Where You Belong
by KSkinner20
Summary: Lotor asks to join the team, and the Paladin's aren't so sure about it. Tension runs high as discoveries are made and disagreement arises among team Voltron. Everyone must find their role in this war, and while one paladin believes his role is to leave, another isn't sure who he is anymore. Written Pre Season 5.
1. Chapter 1

"I think it is time we had a discussion."

The lions pulled into the open bay, entering in pairs on opposite sides. Behind them, Keith's small Galra craft led the way for Lotor's ship into the bay, with the Blade of Marmora's ship bringing up the rear in case Lotor tried anything. Keith guided Lotor's ship to a stop at the center of the bay and only once he saw the Paladin's exit their lions did he signal him to land.

All of the Paladin's had their bayards at the ready as Shiro took the lead. He hoisted himself up so that he was standing above the cockpit of the ship, with Lance and Hunk following close behind. Once Hunk and Lance had their bayards aimed at the cockpit, Shiro motioned for permission to open up. The glass cover released, spewing pressurized air as it lifted up to reveal Lotor watching them with a small smile and his hands raised obediently. Shiro jumped into the cockpit and pulled his arms behind him, twisting them behind his back. He pushed him forward to exit the craft, and Lance and Hunk kept their weapons aimed on him from both sides. Allura and Pidge brought up the rear, soon joined by Keith and Kolivan.

In this formation they led Lotor up to the bridge where Coran had restraints ready. Shiro led him to the Black Paladin's chair and Coran restrained him as soon as Shiro let him go. Soon enough, he was tightly restrained to the chair by his wrists, ankles and waist. Shiro stood in front of him with his arms crossed, flanked by the other paladin's. "Okay. What is it you want to talk about?"

"It is such a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Paladin's of Voltron." Lotor smiled at them as his eyes passed between each of them, lingering on Allura. He gave her a short bow. "Princess Allura, it is an honor."

"Enough with your flattery." Allura glared viciously, standing tall to assert her dominance over him. "Speak your words so that I can get you off my ship."

Lotor let out a chuckle. "You all are as hasty as ever, I see. You have not changed much from our first meeting."

"What do you want?" Shiro's firm voice forced Lotor to give him his attention. There would be no formalities here. They would get to the point and then throw Lotor to the wolves of the Galra Empire who were searching for him.

"I have a proposition for you." Lotor met Shiro's eyes, attempting equality with the man despite his restraints. "It is a deal that will benefit the both of us greatly."

"What are you offering?" Shiro inquired, not breaking eye contact. He didn't trust this man as far as he could throw him. Making a deal with the Prince of the Galra? He had to have quite the offer for that to sound like a good idea.

"Information. Valuable information that will both aid and quicken your conquer of the Galra Empire." Lotor's smile finally faded, asserting his seriousness on this matter. "In return, I would like to fight alongside your coalition against my father, under the protection of your Voltron."

"Are you kidding me?" Lance glanced at the others to see if they were even listening to this. "That's the worst lie I've ever heard. Why would you want to help us? This is probably some ploy to get you in here so you can take over the castle and kill us all!"

"If I wanted you all dead, I would have allowed you all to die moments ago with the destruction of Naxzela. It certainly would have ended your little coalition." Lotor only broke eye contact to look at Lance, almost sneering his response. "But instead, I chose to spare you. In return, I am offering you valuable information as well as aid, and all you have to do in return is provide protection, as you already do with all of your allies."

"Why are the Galra trying to kill you?" Shiro drew his attention back to him. "What did you do?"

"My father has regained his rule on the throne, deeming my reign a 'black spot' on the Empire's reputation. He felt I was moving against the Empire and sent out a warrant for my death." For the first time, Lotor's demeanor seemed slightly disappointed as he spoke these words, but it was fleeting. "Every Galra in the Empire is out for my head, so what better than to join forces with another who is on the Galra blacklist?"

"How do we know you're not just here to be a spy and report everything back to your generals, or something?" Hunk proposed a question that many of them were thinking.

"I no longer have any communication with anyone in the Empire." Lotor's statement was firm, and he finally broke eye contact with them, looking mildly downcast. "I realize that it is fairly natural for you not to believe me. I assure you that my assistance will be incredibly valuable to your cause. I have vast knowledge of the inner workings of the Empire that you cannot acquire from any other source. I would like to offer you two pieces of information to sway your decision, if you'll have it."

"And what information is that?" Shiro wasn't going to be easily persuaded. This information would have to help them an incredible amount for it to be worthwhile.

"Two locations. One is a major Galra hub just a short distance east from here. If you manage to overthrow the hub, you will cut off Galra support to a large quadrant of outposts to the Northeast. The remaining Galra rule in that quadrant is scarce due to a lack of useful resources. If you conquer the area, it should greatly expand your small territory." Lotor sounded confident enough in this information, but the Paladin's listened with skepticism. "The second location is an information outpost. I believe the information you gather there will be helpful to you, as well as much sought after. "

Lotor glanced at the Blade of Marmora when he said that. "I highly suggest using stealth when you reach the information outpost."

"If you are willing to give us this information before we make a deal with you, what would be the benefit of us agreeing to your terms?" Allura pointed out.

Lotor allowed a charming smile at her words. "Princess, the Galra rule over almost the entire known Universe. Giving you these two locations will not hurt Zarkon for long, but if you agree with my proposition, not only can i give you the location of every major hub in the Galra Empire, but I can inform you of where to attack where it will hurt them the most. I will guide you directly to where they will be hurt the most. We Galra have many sources of power, you see, and we keep those places hidden well."

"This sounds like a trap." Keith stepped forward from where he had been listening beside Kolivan. "He's planning on sending us right into Galra hands. They could be waiting for us out there already."

"Yeah, this all sounds _way_ too good to be true." Lance sided with Keith. "I mean, get in the castle, send us all out to die, take over the castle, boom, no more coalition. This sounds a lot like that."

"We already have a Galra finder." Pidge piped up. "We don't need him to tell us where to find Galra."

"But let's say what he claims is true." Coran chimed in a little sheepishly, knowing that his consideration of the proposal would be the unpopular opinion. "We could defeat the Galra hub and greatly expand our territory overnight depending on how vast the hubs areas of protection are. It would be a major victory for the Coalition and bring in countless allies. Not to mention, if we accept his offer, and he does give us the location of more Galra bases, we will be able to free much larger areas much more quickly."

"Coran is right. We can't disregard the possibility of it being true." Shiro brought a hand to his chin as he considered the options. "But it's also just as possible for it to be a trap, but if it is, we can prepare for that. Lotor, you said you would give us those locations in order to sway us. What are the coordinates?"

"Wait, wait, wait. We're really agreeing to this?" Hunk looked between Shiro and Allura, beginning to question their decision making skills. "This is the Prince of the Galra we're talking about here!"

"We're not agreeing just yet." Shiro reassured him. "But I think it's worth checking out these locations to see if what he's saying is true. If it is, there could be some value in keeping him around."

"Shiro, you know I am not comfortable making deals with Galra." Allura's tone was warning. "The Blade's are an extreme exception, but trusting Lotor? I cannot comprehend the sense in that."

"Relax." Shiro lowered his arms and turned to address them all. "We're not making any kind of agreement right now. We should check out these locations and see if what he claims is true. We'll be prepared if it's a trap. If it isn't, then it'll be a huge victory for the Coalition. We can't pass that up."

The team's silence was tense, but they didn't disagree with him. They knew well enough that passing up an opportunity to liberate such a large area so quickly would be foolish. But it was equally foolish to fall straight into a trap.

Shiro took their silence as a go ahead and turned back to Lotor. "All right then. What are the coordinates?"


	2. Chapter 2

"These Galra sure aren't playing around." Hunk watched the masses of Galra battleships and fighter pilots that were surrounding the hub that Lotor had given them the coordinates to. Voltron hung a short ways away from it, cloaked for now so that they could get a grasp on the situation.

"I'm going to say it again. This looks like a trap." Lance's statement was mostly directed at Shiro as he glanced up at the head of Voltron. It was fairly obvious that there were far too many ships here for a normal day at a distant outpost. There were so many that some of them seemed to be taxiing around the hub while they waited for their turn for service. Others just hung around like they were waiting for a command, or waiting for someone. Probably them.

"Not according to the radio chatter." Matt spoke up from the green lion, where he sat behind his sister who was working away on her screens to try to tap into the hub and get some inside visuals. His fingers mimicked hers as they flew across his laptop, deciphering Galra radio frequencies and maintaining their cloaking at the same time. "As far as I can tell, Zarkon is readying for another attack on us and they're just using this as a base while they gather more soldiers. As far as they know, we don't know the location of this base. They don't seem to suspect an attack here."

"How close are they to being ready to launch the attack?" Shiro took in the scene in front of him. It wouldn't be an easy battle, that was for sure. There were a lot of enemies, and more coming each minute. He had fully expected Zarkon to assemble a new army to attempt to regain his stolen property, so if they could take out these cruisers and gain control of the hub, it would put a huge damper on his plans and give them more allies, land and time.

"Not long. Everyone is supposed to be here in the next five minutes." Matt looked a little worried at that. Would they be ready in such a short amount of time? "They'll head towards Naxzela immediately."

"Understood. That would be the best time to hit them and take them all out at once." Shiro opened up communications with the partnering rebels who had joined them for this mission, relaying the plan to everyone. "Once we take them out, we'll take control of the hub and Olia's forces will move in to defend. Olia, do you copy?"

"We copy." Olia's voice rang over the comms in understanding. "We're ready as soon as you give the go ahead."

"All right, I have visuals inside the base." Pidge uploaded a map of the facility and a few camera views to their screens. The place was crawling with Galra, and it almost seemed to be in a frenzy as they worked on prepping so many ships. This hub likely never got so much activity, and wasn't stocked up to properly handle it. Pidge placed a marker on the location of the control room but with so many people and sentries inside, it would be impossible to perform any kind of covert mission to get in and take control. It appeared that, although this base provided for a large vicinity, there were only a handful of planets under it's reign. They were spread far apart, and as Lotor had stated, didn't provide very valuable resources for the Galra. With Naxzela being fairly close, this hub seemed a little neglected on any other day. The only reason is was so popular today was because of their close distance to now rebel ruled Naxzela.

"They certainly don't seem to be prepared enough for it to be a trap." Allura observed as she watched them scramble. "They seem rather overwhelmed."

"Yeah, but if they're short staffed, then there shouldn't be too many people left on board once the ships are all ready to leave." Hunk pointed out.

"Good. That just means that we'll have more of an advantage." Shiro dropped Voltron into a fighting stance, watching as more ships began to converge from the base while others were lining up for the command to go. "Is everyone ready?"

He heard a chorus of agreement over the communicators and watched as all the Galra ships got into a formation pointing to Naxzela. A few were lingering in the hub, probably running late due to low staff, and one more ship warped to the base to join the formation.

"That's the last incoming ship. They'll be launching for Naxzela in thirty ticks." Matt relayed what he was hearing.

"All right. Release the cloak. Everyone, here we go." Everyone readied themselves for the moment when the cloak fell and Voltron would appear literally right in front of hundreds of battleships. It came soon enough and they surged forward before any of the Galra were able respond, blasting through at least a dozen battle cruisers before any shots began to fire. Once they did, however, there was an onslaught of fighter pilots and lasers aimed at them from every direction.

"Hunk, form shoulder cannon! Let's take out as many of these guys as we can, and quickly!" Shiro yanked at his controls to spin and swerve around laser beams. Hunk slammed his bayard into the slot, and his cannon formed in a manipulation of light on Voltron's shoulder. It shot out a swarm of lasers that cut through the Galra ships with ease, making its way completely across the front of the formation, leaving nothing but a trail of explosions.

The rebel ships flew in and focused on the smaller fighter ships so that Voltron could divert full attention on the battle cruisers. It took all of that attention to avoid the multiple blasts from ion cannons and lasers all aimed at one target. Voltron plowed through ship after ship, but it seemed that with every ship they took down a new one would immediately replace it.

After suffering a few hits from the lasers, Shiro gritted his teeth. "We need to form sword!"

His command was followed with silence and none of the paladins took any action. In the pause he had to jerk Voltron to the left to avoid an ion beam. "I said we need the sword!"

"We can't form it." Lance's words came solemn through the communications. "We don't have Keith."

This was the first time since Keith's leaving that they had needed to form the sword. The realization that they were unable to form Voltron's strongest weapon now was a daunting one. Shiro could feel the weight of that realization. He clenched his jaw and again, pulled Voltron out of the line of fire. "We'll have to rely on Hunk's shoulder cannon then, and take the rest out with our lasers."

"The laser cannon can only handle so many shots." Hunk pointed out the obvious limitations to such a heavy duty weapon.

"Then we'll have to make them good ones." Shiro yanked back on his controls and pulled Voltron a good distance back to aim the cannon again, focusing on the largest swarm of battle cruisers he could before laying out a stream of projectiles.

Across the galaxy, at the second location, Keith peeked cautiously around the corner at the entrance of the information outpost. He and Kolivan had discreetly docked their ship out of sight of any cameras or bots, and now they just had to make sure their path inside was clear. Not surprisingly, the control hub they needed to reach was at the very center of the outpost, and heavily guarded by sentries. Aside from sentries, however, there were only three enemy life forms here that they could pick up. That could be a good or bad thing. It wasn't unusual for Galra to set traps filled with nonliving guards, but the fact that there were three living beings here would hopefully mean this wasn't a trap.

He waited for a sentry to clear the hallway ahead before he and Kolivan proceeded forward with weapons at the ready. The place wasn't especially huge, since it was only used to hold information for this distant territory, and it was difficult to believe that it houses much information of value. But Lotor seemed to believe that it was something they "sought after" and so Kolivan had believed it worth checking out.

"Turn right here." Kolivan directed as Keith glanced down another hall. Two sentries were guarding the hall, and didn't seem to be on a path to exit it. On the other end of the hall there was a camera, so running in wouldn't be smart. He paused a moment to think until Kolivan tapped his shoulder and pointed upwards. Above them was a grate into the ventilation system, which would likely lead them right to the control center. Keith gave Kolivan a knowing nod. In return, Kolivan cupped his hands together to hoist Keith up, and with a few yanks, he had the grate off. He pulled himself up and held out a hand for Kolivan. Once they were both inside, Keith carefully replaced the grate, making their presence completely concealed.

In the vents, they had to move slowly in order not to make too much noise, but moving slowly was better than being reckless and getting caught. Kolivan helped quietly direct them towards the command center, and within ten minutes, they were looking straight down on the control panel.

Two Galra sat at the panel. A tall, bulky Galra sat flicking through information that littered the screens, rubbing his chin as he scanned over Galra text. The other was more slender than the first, with a beard that he absentmindedly pulled at as he read a book. It took a few seconds before Keith found the third, in the far corner of the room. It was a slender, female Galra who had glasses and dozens of papers spread out before her. She seemed more than enthralled in her work, as she mumbled a few inaudible words here and there and scribbled notes down on the papers as needed.

Keith glanced at Kolivan and gave another nod. With that, Kolivan took out a small device from the pouch on his hip. He pressed down on the solitary red button on it, and off in the distance they could hear the small explosion from the bomb they had set out as they arrived here. The bomb rattled the place and immediately alarms began to blast down the halls and on the screens. The three Galra leaped from their seats with their weapons readied as the stocky Galra pulled up cameras. He focused on the smoke where the bomb had gone off on the opposite end of the facility. "Xena, Nocxus, go check it out. Find anyone who might be trying to infiltrate."

The girl Galra gave a slightly feeble nod and the slender one ran to the door at the command, racing to bombs location with her close at his heels. The big one stayed behind and stayed close to the control panel. He stood still, listening for any sounds that may be out of the ordinary. If anyone decided to break into his information outpost, they would be sorry.

His eyes shot upward as he heard the scrapping of metal, but was met with a metal grate to the face. Keith landed in front of him and swung his blade at the Galra's chest, but he quickly shook off the pain from the grate and caught Keith's blade with the barrel of his gun. Keith jumped back at that to avoid a shot from the weapon and he dodged a second shot as the Galra lurched towards him. As he did, Kolivan jumped from the vents, landing right on his shoulders and pushing him to the ground with a jolt. Keith grabbed his gun as soon as he hit the ground and wrenched it from his hands as Kolivan took his blade and slammed the hilt down on the back of his neck. Kolivan had no gentleness to his attacks and the Galra was out cold instantly.

Keith gathered the gun and aimed for the door as Kolivan approached the control panel. He had very little trouble accessing the database and he inserted a chip into the computer to download the information. He flicked through screens at almost lightning speeds until he found where all of the information was stored and started the download to the chip.

Keith stayed focused on the door, but he ventured to the corner of the room where the female Galra had been and picked up one of the papers. He couldn't read any of the Galra writing on it, and he imagined that even if he did read Galra we still wouldn't be able to read the chicken scratch handwriting. Among the writing, however, were a series of drawings. They looked like branches, or roots of some sort leading up to some scribbled drawing of a humanoid looking figure, but he couldn't tell what it was supposed to be. Maybe it was just a bored girl's odd doodles.

"Keith." Kolivan grabbed his attention and he joined him at the control panel. On the screen Kolivan had pulled up a map with a number of planets highlighted in a pulsing yellow color. Between them all was a pulsing yellow stream that connected them all together. Keith stared at it for a moment before realizing what he was looking at. "It's the quintessence supply line."

Kolivan nodded. "This is the entire map of the supply line we've been investigating. The portion that we've discovered is only a small part of an extensive supply line. These planets that are being pointed out may be bases of operation, and could hold massive supplies of the quintessence. There could be more information in these files, but the best source of information is going to be acquired by seeing for ourselves."

"And now we have a map of exactly where to go." Keith heard the beep as the chip finished downloading. He took it out and put it inside an inner pocket in his hip pouch for safe keeping. They had been following these streams of quintessence for months, and thanks to Lotor, they now had a map straight to the main sources of it. What other information they had gathered on this device was extremely valuable. If they could figure out what the Galra were planning with this quintessence from this information…well maybe Lotor's intel wasn't bad to have.

Behind them, they heard the door to the control room slide open, causing them both to spin on their heels. In the doorway was the female Galra, and she looked just as surprised to see them there as they did to see her. How could she have gotten back here so quickly? She had her hands squeezed shut and Keith immediately fired at her, hitting her in the shoulder. She whimpered at the blast, but didn't go down, and instead clutched harder at the thing in her hands. Kolivan squinted and saw the shine of a red button and his eyes widened. Keith readied another shot.

"V-Vrepit sa." The female Galra squeezed her eyes shut as she pressed down on the button, setting off the outposts defenses. Kolivan grabbed Keith and yanked him to him, wrapping his arms tight around him and almost crushing Keith to his chest as the control panel behind them exploded. It caused a chain reaction of explosions all throughout the outpost, completely blowing the entire place into pieces.


	3. Chapter 3

"We have full control over here." Olia's smile was evident in her voice as she reported from the hub's command center. The rebel members had infiltrated the base as Voltron fought off the battle cruisers, and now the place was emptied and all theirs to do with as they pleased. The rebel ships who were able were already on their way to free the planets that resided under this base's reign.

"Great. Good work everyone." Shiro leaned back in his chair, breathing heavily. That battle hadn't been any easy one in the least. They had used Hunk's shoulder cannon until it overheated, and after that they had picked off as many ships as they could by using lasers and brunt force. In the end, they had split up into separate lions to tackle the remaining battle ships, and they put up quite the fight. He could hear the exhaustion in everyone's voices over the comms.

"Great job, guys!" Lance seemed to melt into his seat as his muscles relaxed. It had been a close one for him a few times there and now that the adrenaline was winding down, he could feel the exhaustion in his bones.

"So who's going to clean this place up now…?" Hunk stared out into junkyard of metal scraps that littered the space around the hub. Now that they had liberated such a huge area, cleaning upafter battles was an actual concern.

"I'll get my team to start work on it." Matt sat back down in his chair, after finding himself standing during the whole battle due to adrenaline. He gave Pidge a high five at their victory. "You're amazing, you know."

"Yeah, I know." Pidge grinned. "But I couldn't do it without everyone else. I don't want to clean up this mess after all."

Matt laughed sarcastically. "Yeah, yeah, leave all the dirty work to your big brother, I see how it is."

Pidge gave him a grin that said "well yeah, isn't that how this works?" Matt rolled his eyes, but he was still smiling. Besides, she was the one with the dirty work really. She just fought an entire fleet of enemies. Cleaning up was the easy part.

"Shiro." Allura's voice cut their their humor, sounding rather somber for it being just after a victory. "I feel we must discuss the fact that we cannot form the sword. The sword is Voltron's most valuable weapon. We cannot afford to be without it."

"I know." Shiro agreed, staying quiet for a moment. Since Keith's absence, this problem hadn't arisen until today, and now it was a reality. He glanced down at his own bayard. He had never activated his bayard before. Maybe…if it was a sword or knife of some sort…maybe _he_ could form the sword.

"Shiro?" Lance's concern brought him back to attention and he put his bayard away for now.

"Let's head back to the castle and talk about all of this. Coran?" He turned his lion around to regroup and head back home.

"How did it go?" He heard Coran's ever cheery voice on the other end of the comm, and it sounded like Shiro's call had eased some worry in him. "Were you all successful?"

"Yes." Allura answered with a smile as all five lions gathered together and made way in the direction of the castle. "We have complete control of the hub, and Olia's team is already being dispatched to the various planets to relieve them of Galra control. Later, Hunk and I will go to the freed planets and see if they'll be willing to help the coalition."

"Yeah, so it seems like Lotor wasn't lying." Hunk added. "And it wasn't a trap. So what are we going to do about that…? Are we going to accept his deal?"

"I don't think we should trust him that easily." Lance frowned. "It's not like this place was under armed. There were literally _thousands_ of ships ready for us, even if they weren't _waiting_ for us."

"Yes, but did you really expect Zarkon to let us just hold onto a third of his territory without any trouble?" Pidge questioned him. "I think it's expected that he'll keep sending more and more fleets after us."

"Which is exactly why we need to keep expanding and gaining allies to join the coalition." Shiro's authoritative voice always got everyone's attention. "This victory gained us more planets in one go than any other battle before. Without Lotor, it could have taken months to find this place, or countless battles trying to free each planet individually while this base sent out reinforcements. We have to give Lotor credit that this is a huge win for us. I'm not saying I trust him yet, but it warrants some discussion."

Lance let out a slightly irritated groan at that and diverted his attention elsewhere. "Have you heard from Keith and Kolivan?"

"I received word that they arrived at the outpost about twenty dobashes ago." Coran relayed as he spotted the lions nearing the castle. "I haven't heard anything from them since then. But you know how those Blades of Marmora work. They like to stay mysterious."

"Well, they do specialize in stealth missions." Shiro tried to instill a little reassurance in his team. "I'm sure we'll hear from them soon."

"Unless it was a trap." Lance murmured under his breath, knowing Shiro would hear him but he didn't care. Shiro had chosen not to listen to him from the beginning and he had to admit he was a little frustrated for it. He was supposed to be his right hand, and help aid him, but he felt more like he was just being treated like…well like he was still a leg.

He didn't get the chance to hear Shiro's response, however, before his mind was suddenly filled with Red's roar. He sounded…distressed? Frantic? Lance gripped the controls, his face etched in worry. "What's wrong, buddy…?"

Red twisted on his own accord, pulling Lance away from the castle entrance. He stared into the empty space around him, but he couldn't see any danger, and nothing was on the sensors. Red picked up speed and shot off in the opposite direction of the castle, refusing to obey Lance's commands to stop.

"Lance! Where are you going?!" Pidge pulled Green around and headed after him, soon followed by the other three lions.

"It's not me, it's Red. He's freaking out." Lance attempted to turn around and head back towards the others, but his stubborn lion refused. If he'd learned anything from being a Paladin of Voltron it was that the lions never responded to the force of their pilot. So he let go of the controls and closed his eyes. "Come on, bud. Talk to me. What's going on?"

Almost immediately, Red forced an image into his mind. An explosion. It was an outpost and it was being blown to pieces. The Blade's ship. Keith! Lance's eyes snapped open just as he heard alarms beginning to blare over the comms from Coran's end. "Coran, we need a warp hole to the second location, and we need it now!"

"Oh, quiznak." Coran moved quickly to set up the wormhole with Allura's residual essence, hoping it would be enough to get them there. His screens were blazing red as his visual of the information outpost went up in flames and smoke. His systems approved the wormhole and he practically slammed his hand down on the button to create one. "Hurry!"

A small wormhole formed in front of the lions and Lance pushed Red's speed to the limit, pulling away from the others. On the other end he was met with an outpost that was now almost nonexistent. It had been completely torn into pieces that now floated in shards across an empty space.

"Where are they?" Lance's heart rate had accelerated and his grip on Red's controls made his knuckles turn white. His eyes scanned the wreckage, hoping to spot someone. Kolivan, Keith, heck even a Galra, if it let him know that someone could have survived this. Red surged forward, gracefully dodging and spinning around wreckage.

"Come on, Keith. You can't die here." Lance was standing now, still gripping the controls. "Come on, Keith. Come on."

There. He spotted what Red was locked onto. Among all the wreckage, he spotted that familiar black mullet, and at the sight of him, Red seemed to speed up even more. They were on him in an instant and Red opened his mouth, scooped Keith right up and immediately spun to head back to the castle.

Lance jumped from his controls –not that he was in any control right now anyway– the second Red's jaw shut. He barely saw Pidge's green lion do the same, having spotted Kolivan nearby. Lance leaped through the doors to the Lion's entrance all the while repeating the mantra _Don't be dead. Don't be dead. Don't be dead._

Keith was there and moving, choking, writhing for breath that he couldn't get from his torn suit. He laid on his side gripping his chest and covered in blodo that was quickly pooling beneath him. He was desperately heaving for air, but every gasp he got was pushed from him as he choked up blood and his chest was on fire with pain.

Lance skidded to his knees beside him, taking in his condition in horror. He'd never seen so much blood before in his life.His front half and face was almost unscathed. But his back had been torn to shreds from projectiles from the explosions and he was covered in deep, bleeding lacerations all along his back and the backs of his calves. A huge chuck of metal had pierced him just beneath his left shoulder blade, and it was no mystery that it had pierced through his rib cage and lung, but it hadn't gone completely through and it hadn't hit his heart. Lance could see his muscles tense in pain around the metal shard as he struggled to breathe. Every time he tried it resulted in a horrible gurgling and coughing as blood and air tried to share the same passageway.

Lance pulled Keith into his arms so he could get a closer look at his back. Should he try to remove the metal shard? Would it help him breathe? Would he bleed to death if he did? The cuts in his back were already so bad. He gripped the metal, hoping that if he got it out that he could get some air in his lungs, but Keith cried out in pain when Lance touched it, and he immediately pulled away. "Guys?! What do I do?! There's…there's a piece of metal in his chest. I-I don't know what to do!"

"Don't do anything." Coran's voice was firm and experienced. "We don't know how many major arteries it's impacted. If he's alive, keep it there. Pulling it out could kill him. Get him to a healing pod as quickly as you can. I have two ready for you."

"Lance..." Keith's words were barely audible among his desperate, weakening gasping. His fingers gripped Lance's arm tight, though he couldn't lessen their trembling. His other hand fumbled in his hip pouch before he actually managed to grab something. He raised it to Lance the best he could. "T-Take…it…"

"We're here. Just hold on." Lance took Keith's hand just as he felt the jolt of his lion landing in the Castle's bay. Keith dropped the information chip into Lance's palm as Red knelt down and opened his mouth. Lance quickly tucked the chip into his pocket, before sliding one of his arms under Keith's knees and the other he gently wrapped around his shoulders, trying not to touch the shard. Keith's eyes were glazing over. His breathing was turning more into a slow, futile struggle. Lance hoisted him up into his arms and stood up just as Shiro appeared at the entrance. It took one glance to drain every bit of color from Shiro's face as Lance ran past him, and he followed close at Lance's heels. From the green Lion, Hunk, Pidge and Matt were in a similar position with Kolivan. Lance only caught a fleeting glance, but he looekd as much of a bloody mess as Keith, if not more.

Coran was waiting in the healing bay with two pods at the ready. Keith had gone limp in Lance's arms from pain at all the movement. His fingers still weakly gripped Lance's arm, but the only energy he could muster was tiny desperate gasps at the air. Quickly, Shiro helped Lance lift him into a pod, where he held him up so that Lance could rip out the protruding shard of metal. Coran instantly commanded the pod to shut the very second it was out and Keith was engulfed in his cryo chamber.

Kolivan was in a worse state then Keith. His entire body, aside from his lower chest and stomach, was completely covered in burns and lacerations. He had countless projectiles embedded into his thick skin and huge gashes in his back and upper arms. Hunk and Allura lifted him into the pod as Pidge and Matt focused on pulling out the biggest of the shards that they could before Coran closed the pod or risk Kolivan bleeding to death. The glass of both pods immediately frosted over so that the occupants could not be seen from the outside. This was a process that only occurred when the sensors deemed the occupant to be in too bad of shape for the healing process to be observed.

Lance stepped back from the pod, still breathing heavily from the dying adrenaline in his veins. He looked down at himself. He was completely covered in Keith's blood and as he glanced at the others, they were all drenched in Kolivan's too. There was silence, and everyone's eyes eventually fell on Shiro.

For the first time, Shiro actually looked shaken. He wasn't pale like he got when he was suffering a flashback; he was ashen. He stared at the pods, but his eyes were glazed and his mind was far away. After a long time of silence he finally let out a heavy sigh. "Everyone get cleaned up. We have a lot to talk about."


	4. Chapter 4

It took a few hours for everyone to get cleaned up and for Coran to clean the trail from the lions to the healing bay. Everyone had to make sure their armor was cleaned in every crack and the under armor was thrown into the laundry. Showers were taken and once done, Hunk headed to the kitchen to start up some dinner. He would focus on making some good comfort food today because it seemed like everyone could use it.

Soon enough, everyone was gathered at the dining table, having been drawn there by the smell of Hunk's inevitably delicious food. The atmosphere was still a little heavy, but the sight of macaroni and cheese, warm bread rolls with butter and country fried chicken was enough to lift anyone's spirits. What ingredients Hunk used to make this, and make it taste so much like home, no one really knew, but what they all knew was that Hunk was a wizard at making some really incredible food. That was all they needed to know.

They tore into the dinner, piling their plates high. Matt especially filled his plate, finding Hunk's food to be a dream compared to what he'd been eating for the past year and a half. Lance hung back, however, looking a little distant and distracted until Pidge filled up a plate for him and set it in front of him. It seemed to bring him back to reality and he flashed her a thankful smile.

Hunk's food did wonders for everyone's moods and soon enough the room was filled with cheerful chatter. Allura found the macaroni to be delightful and suggested that they bring some of this "mac & cheese" to the diplomatic dinner tomorrow evening, but quickly seemed to change that opinion when Hunk revealed that the cheese was actually made from Kaltenecker's milk. Coran, however, was growing slowly more accustomed to the many uses of milk and questioned Hunk on how the same ingredients for a milkshake could possibly be used in cheese. Hunk was more than happy to explain the process, which only repulsed Allura more.

"Look, you have to avoid the flames and dodge, grab the rope above his head, and pull down the chandelier above him. There's no way to fight him head on." Matt, Pidge and Lance had fallen into an intense discussion of a particularly difficult level in _Killbot Phantasm I_ , but Matt's advice wasn't being accepted. "I played this game when I was a kid, I remember beating it that way."

"I'm telling you, we tried grabbing the rope. Nothing falls and we just swing there until he notices us and we get burnt to death." Lance frowned, sounding sure of himself. He had struggled through this level with Pidge over a dozen times! He had an idea of the environment by now.

"No, no, you're thinking of the wrong game." Pidge crossed her arms, replaying the moves in her mind. "There is a rope and a chandelier, but if we try to grab it we just swing to a platform in the background. There are no targets around to hit either. We're safe on the platform though, but we can't do anything from it."

"No, I'm sure I'm thinking of the right game." Matt brought a hand to his chin as he shut his eyes, digging through some deep memories to try to recall this battle. He _knew_ he was right, but what was he forgetting?

Pidge mimicked her brother's expression. "We must be missing something. The game wouldn't send us to the boss unprepared. This is a linear game. It's not an open world where we can accidentally run into a monster that's way above our level."

"Hey, give the game some credit. It was pretty revolutionary for its time. A lot of people were still making side scrollers, so when this game had multiple views it was a pretty big deal. And the graphics were great!" Matt pointed out, but he just earned an eye roll from his sister.

"Wait, I think I know what we might be missing." Lance's eyes lit up with a realization. "Maybe if we grab the rope and equip the metal boots it'll make us heavy enough to pull down the chandelier."

"That's it!" Matt pounded a fist to his palm as his memory returned at Lance's words. "I forgot about the metal boots!"

"Metal boots…? When did we get…?" Pidge's expression went from curious to rage in a millisecond. "You played without me?! What the _heck_ , Lance!? You got metal boots? We agreed to only play together!"

"Well, you were off finding Matt and I was bored." Lance defended, backing away a little. It wasn't far enough and he winced when she punched him in the arm, giving him an angry growl.

"All right, everyone." Shiro's loud voice cut through the conversation from the head of the table. Immediately, all talking stopped and all eyes were on him. "We have a lot of things we need to discuss. We need to get started. Let's begin with Lotor."

"He seems to be sleeping quiet peacefully in the holding chamber." Coran pointed out.

"We can't hold him forever. We'll have to make a decision." Shiro set his elbows on the table, intertwining his fingers together. He pressed them to his lips as he thought for a moment. "Our victory at the Galra hub was a success, and it did gain us a lot of new territory, and hopefully soon, allies. Concerning that mission, everything Lotor said was true."

"Yeah, but what about the second one? You can't tell me that wasn't a trap." Lance blurted out a little harsher than he intended as he folded his arms across his chest.

"We don't know that it was." Coran tapped the small device in the center of the table, pulling up the map that Kolivan and Keith had acquired from the outpost. "The information on the chip Keith had seems to map out a branching system of traveling quintessence. We know the Blades of Marmora have been tracking this new quintessence supply line and this map gives them exact locations of where to go to find some answers concerning that. It could lead to a much larger plan. And this is only one of the documents that we've looked at. On that chip there could be hundreds of more documents with information about the Galra's plan. I can't imagine that Lotor would willingly lead us to a place with such valuable information for it to be a trap."

"He expected them to die. The place exploded!" Lance flung his arms wide as he felt he was pointing out the obvious. "It doesn't matter what they know if they're dead!"

"That's just it, though." Pidge spoke up beside him. "Even if it was a trap, there's no guarantee that there's a 100% chance that they'll die. I mean, we're seeing that now. Keith and Kolivan survived. Lotor isn't dumb enough not to think of the possibility of survival. If he wanted to trap them, he would have sent them somewhere with useless information or no information at all. The fact that he sent them there is telling us that what he knows is valuable, and if we accept his deal, he'll let us in on it. I don't think this was a trap."

"Then why did the place blow up? If it wasn't a trap they should have been in and out easily." Lance was listening to their argument, but that didn't mean he agreed. He didn't trust Lotor one bit, and he wasn't going to be so easily swayed. It was exactly like Pidge said. He wasn't dumb. He could be playing them right into his hands with all this.

"Maybe they couldn't be stealthy?" Hunk muttered his question aloud and his voice got louder as he fit the pieces together. "I mean there were three other people aboard, right? I'm sure at least one would have been guarding the control panel at all times. Obviously they got the information, so they found some way around it, but we've all fought the Galra. They don't go down easily. If Keith and Kolivan were aiming for stealth, I doubt they took out anyone before they reached the control room, so they probably set up a distraction to limit their opponents to one or two. Maybe they couldn't move fast enough, or maybe someone came back before they could get out."

"It's true that they were able to acquire incredibly valuable information. That really cuts down any likeliness that it could have been a trap." Allura tapped a finger to her lips. "Someone likely saw that they had been infiltrated and set off the bomb as a last attempt at victory. I believe this wasn't a trap, but rather a way of Lotor telling us that he knows much more than he is willing to share until we accept his offer. He wants us to understand that we require his aid to defeat them. He was the one who suggested stealth, which means he must have known about the outposts defenses if we were caught. But yet he still bothered to warn us, which leads me to believe that he truly did want us to gather this intel."

"If we don't accept his offer, we're losing out on a huge wealth of information." Matt leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. "There's no one else we can talk to that'll have as much dirt on the Galra as he will. He can help us take down the Empire and lead us straight to Zarkon. He knows that, and both of these missions were just to tell us how important that is for our goal."

"So the question narrows down to whether the information he can give us is worth the risk of accepting his offer." Shiro set his hands on the table and looked at the rest of them. "We're a team here. I'm going to need all of your support if we decide to accept his offer. We all have to be on the same page."

There was a moment of silence while everyone formed their opinion, and Hunk was the first to speak up, though he sounded a little sheepish when he did. "I think maybe we should give him a chance. I'm not saying we have to trust him. I'm just saying that obviously he knows a lot more than we do, and that information is the only thing that'll really get us ahead in this war. I mean the coalition is going great and all, but we don't know what they're planning or what this quintessence is going to be used for, and Lotor does. We can't afford to let that information go."

"Hunk is right." Allura chimed in, but she sounded regretful about her own words and she grimaced when she spoke them. "It pains me to accept the idea of allowing Lotor to join our team, but this is a war. He cannot allow valuable information to go to waste. This does not mean that I will trust him, and he _will_ be monitored at all times. Our acceptance of his offer does not eliminate the possibility of his future betrayal. We will need to keep that fact in our minds at all times."

"I agree with Hunk and Allura." Pidge straightened up as she voiced her own opinion. "We'll get as much information as we can out of him, but we'll have to keep our guard up. The possibility isn't zero that he could genuinely want to help us, but we'll be prepared for the worst. That's all we can do in this war. We need to get ahead everywhere that we can."

Matt nodded his agreement beside her and turned to Lance. All eyes were on Lance now. He was quiet, shaking his head slightly. "What if all of this is just Lotor's elaborate plan to get to us? To get us to warm up to him so he can betray us, just like you said, Allura? Yeah, accepting his offer could help us, or he could lead us straight to Zarkon with false information and lies. I don't trust him."

"Neither do I, and we know that this is a huge gamble." Shiro made eye contact with Lance, and his expression was genuine and slightly soft. "But this gamble could be the line between victory and defeat for us. I believe that chance for victory is worth taking as long as we all work together. We can do this. We are the paladins of Voltron. Lotor shouldn't be a threat to us."

Lance let out a heavy sigh and his shoulders hung. "Keith should be a part of this decision."

"I know, but unfortunately, it'll be a while before he'll wake up and we need to make a choice. Lance, we need to know what you think." Shiro's stare bore into the side of Lance's head as he avoided his gaze.

"I don't trust him." Lance repeated again. He clenched his fists slightly nd let out an agitates sigh before he finally turned to face Shiro. "I'll accept his offer because we need the information, but I won't trust him."

Once dinner was finished and cleaned up, everyone's exhaustion from the last two day's battles made itself very apparent. Eyelids were heavy and contagious yawns were spread throughout the room until everyone wished each other a good night and retreated to their separate bedrooms.

Before going to his room, Lance decided to make a quick detour to the healing bay. Hopefully a few hours had done Keith some good, though it wasn't likely that he would be awake yet.

He meandered into the bay, but noticed immediately that Kolivan's pod was still completely frosted over, so checking on him would have to be through the sensors alone. Keith's however, had defrosted enough to show his torso up.

It was a relief that the system had healed him enough to be seen and Lance stepped up to the pod, observing the damage. His suit was still torn to shreds, but all of the smaller cuts were now either completely healed, or most of the way there. He couldn't see the progress of the deeper gashes on his back and calves, but the pod was doing its job, and that was a relief.

"Good. I was worried for a minute that I'd have to go find a new hot-headed, reckless rival." Lance let out a soft chuckle as his nerves began to ease up a little. He hadn't really realized how tense he'd been until now. "I'm not sure I'd find anyone else with a mullet who could match your impulsiveness _and_ poor decision making skills."

He shot Keith a sly grin, as if he was waiting for Keith's quick and snappy reply, but when he looked at Keith's face, his smile vanished. He couldn't hear him, and his face was otherwise stoic except for a stream of tears that fell steadily across his cheeks. It must have been some kind of involuntary reaction from the pod or something, but even so, it came as a shock to Lance. He'd never even imagined seeing Keith cry.

He was the ace pilot who was confident in his abilities. The guy who was always jumping head first into battle without a second thought and lashing out in angry responses when they made fun of him. He was the cool, loner, swordsman. He was someone Lance had always -though unadmittedly- wanted to be like. He didn't cry…right?

"Can't sleep?" Shiro's voice from the doorway made Lance jerk a little as he was pulled out of his own thoughts. Shiro gave him a gentle smile and took a place beside him, following his gaze to Keith's pod.

"I was gonna head to bed soon, just wanted to stop by and see how it was going." Lance gave a small shrug. "Did you let Lotor out yet?"

"No, we'll wait till tomorrow." Shiro crossed his arms as he peered at Keith. "Someone will need to keep watch over him, and for tonight I think everyone needs a good night's rest. That includes you too, Lance."

"Yeah, I know." Lance tucked his hands in his pockets and cast a glance at the ground as he debated his words in his head. After a moment of silence he finally looked back up at Shiro. "Listen, Shiro. I…there's something I want to talk to you about."

"What is it?" Shiro looked down at him, catching his eyes with a look of concern. Lance couldn't exactly ease that concern. These words weren't easy to say.

"I think…" He paused. He was Shiro's right hand man now. He had to be able to voice these opinions for the better of the team. He took just a second to steel himself and meet Shiro's eye contact. "I really think Keith needs to come back and pilot Red."

"What…?" Shiro was expectedly taken aback. "But Lance-"

"Look, we've seen it before and we saw it again today." Lance cut him off in order to relay his reasoning. "Keith has a super strong bond with Red. I mean, he hasn't piloted Red for months now, and yet today, he traveled across an entire galaxy to save him. I don't have that kind of bond with Red. I don't think he would do the same thing for me."

"You and Red have been working great together, Lance." Shiro knit his brows together as he tried to follow Lance's train of thought. He had seen him working hard to master Red's speed and abilities. So why was he saying this now?

"I know, but it's still not even close to what Keith and Red had. And it's not like Keith ever wanted to give that up to begin with, just like I didn't want to leave Blue. He only left Red because you were gone and someone had to pilot Black. Keith never wanted to take your place, and I think Red still wants to be with him." Lance's words were growing quicker and louder as he pieced all his thoughts together. "Besides, I'm not the right hand man that you need. You and Keith worked so well together and now…well, it's like you won't even listen to anything I say just because I'm not Keith. And I'll never be Keith. I'm not right for Red, and Keith needs to be the red paladin again. It'll be better for you and for the team. We can't even form sword without Keith. Voltron is stronger with him. We need him back on the team."

"Lance, slow down." Shiro set both hands on Lance's shoulders, and it wasn't until then that he realized that he'd been pacing in a circle as he talked. "You're not wrong for Red, and you're not wrong for me. I know you're not Keith, and you don't have to be. We have to grow together and adapt to changes. Just because we have a few issues now doesn't mean that won't change with some work. Have you discussed this with Keith at all?"

"Well…I mentioned it to him once when you first came back. I figured you would want Black back and he would want Red back, and Allura is a better match for Blue than I am. All he said was that it would work itself out. I guess this was his way of working it out…" Lance looked back at Keith's pod as Shiro let go of his shoulders.

"Look, you can't just force Keith to pilot Red again." Shiro sighed and set his hands on his hips now. He felt like he was back at the beginning, when he was telling Keith that he couldn't force Pidge to stay with the team. "He chose to leave the team and pursue other goals. He wanted to join the Blades of Marmora. He can't just pull him away from that and throw him back in Red. We have to make sure it's what he wants."

"Does that really look like the face of someone who's doing what _he_ wants?" Lance's words had a bit of bite to them, but his gaze didn't budge from Keith's pod. Shiro matched his gaze and met Keith's tear streaked face. Isn't this what he had wanted…? To join the Blades and follow the quintessence supply line? Would he leave team Voltron for anything less than what he absolutely wanted?

"You're the closest one to him. Shouldn't you be the one to know whether he's lying or not? What if he really does want to stay a part of Voltron?" Lance seemed almost…accusatory? "You would be the one who could tell, wouldn't you?"

"I-" Shiro didn't get the chance to answer because the door slid open again, and Matt came into the room. He looked a little surprised to see all the company.

"Hey. Am I interrupting anything?" He hesitated at the door in case they needed him to go. "I just wanted to come see how Keith was doing. I've never seen these things in action."

"No, you're fine." Shiro gave him a half smile and he took that as the okay to come over. "He's already looking a lot better."

"Yeah, you're not kidding." Matt was amazed at just how much better he looked. This pod had already healed so much so quickly. It was really incredible. Altaen technology was mind blowing, just as Pidge had said. He took his place beside Shiro and gazed at the otherworldly tech in front of him in awe. But just like the other two, his eyes soon lingered on Keith's face and his smile faded.

There was a moment of silence as the three of them all mulled over their own thoughts. Matt was the first to speak. "Hey, I think you guys should know something."

His statement earned him both of their attention, and he rubbed the back of his neck a little nervously. "I'm not sure if Keith mentioned it or not but, Lotor kind of saved his life the other day."

"What? What do you mean?" Shiro knit his brows together as he stared at Matt questioningly. "When he broke through the barrier? He saved all of our lives."

"No, I mean, Keith specifically." Matt clarified with firmness in his voice. "He was going to fly his ship into the barrier to break through it. If Lotor had showed up even a second later than he did…Keith wouldn't be here."

His words elicited silence from the other two as both worry and upset washed over both of their faces. Matt lifted his gaze back to Keith. "I'm not saying that should have an impact on what we do with Lotor, and I don't know if it would affect Keith's choice. But what I'm really saying is, there's something going on in Keith's head that he needs to talk about to someone. I get that this is a war, and sacrifices will be made, but…he seemed to make the choice pretty quickly."

"Keith…" Shiro groaned, rubbing his temple. He'd always been reckless and jumping into trouble, but how could he even consider sacrificing himself? He would have left the team with a vital man down. Was he really okay with that? First he leaves Voltron to join the blades and go on countless risky missions and then he tries to fly himself into a barrier? What was going on?

"You know him best, Shiro." Lance looked up at him. "If he would have opened up to anyone it would have been you. What's going on?"

"He didn't say anything to me. He went off with the Blades of Marmora and he hasn't communicated much besides what's necessary for missions." Shiro's response was a sad one, but it seemed to be what Keith had wanted, so he hadn't been overly persistent about it.

"Come on, Shiro. You didn't notice anything?" Lance didn't accept his answer. "When you disappeared, Keith searched for you _every single day._ Even when everyone else thought you were dead, he was still out there looking for you. He never gave up on you. So when he leaves Voltron, you're just going to give up on him? You won't even try to talk him into coming back and tell him we need him? Are you mad at him for piloting Black?"

"What? No. No, I was never mad at him for that. I _wanted_ him to pilot Black." Shiro retaliated. "This was all his decision. He didn't feel ready to lead Voltron. I can't force him to come back. He told us this is what he wanted."

"If he had died that day, would you be saying the same thing?" Lance's eyes bore into Shiro's. "Or would you be saying 'I wish we'd stopped him from leaving?'"

"Lance, we can't-"

"We have to at least try!" Lance snapped at him. "You keep saying we can't force people, but that's no excuse to keep quiet and not try! Maybe he wanted us to stop him. Maybe he wanted us to ask why he kept pushing us away, but we were so mad at him for doing it that we didn't care why he was doing it. We've been bad teammates, Shiro. We should have at least tried. If it were me leaving, I would have wanted you all to stop me."

Shiro couldn't seem to form an answer to him, because he knew that what he was saying was true. Maybe Keith had wanted them to stop him, but he had been so frustrated at the time with Keith neglecting the team, that he had… maybe he had been a little happy to see him go. It was a miserable thing to admit to himself and he felt guilt rise up in his throat at the very thought.

"I'm going to try talking to him when he wakes up tomorrow. Maybe it's a little late, but he's still alive, and I'm not going to wait around to regret it." Lance stuffed his hands in his pockets and headed for the door, but paused a moment. "You need to think about it too. Keith belongs as a part of Voltron, and if you really think that this is what Keith wants, then I'm not sure you really know him that well. Maybe you need to think about what Keith really means to you."


	5. Chapter 5

After a long night of tossing and turning, Shiro decided to give up on his futile attempt at rest. He got up and got ready for the day, despite the fact that it was much too early for anyone else to be up. His mind seemed to be running a million miles a minute, and he couldn't seem to relax. His restlessness lead to him pacing the empty halls of the castle.

 _Maybe you need to think about what Keith really means to you._

He couldn't seem to shake Lance's words and he turned them over and over in his brain. What did Keith mean to him? He was his teammate, and his friend. As a part of Voltron, they'd been through a lot together, and as the leader he'd always seen Keith as his right hand. He had always had high hopes for him.

But that couldn't be all. That didn't explain the horrible, gut wrenching dread he had felt at seeing Lance carry him out of the Red lion, bloodied and on the brink of death. It didn't explain the emptiness and pain in his stomach that he couldn't seem to shake even when he knew Keith was healing. No…he'd been feeling that emptiness since before that. Ever since Keith left the team he'd felt it. He kept telling himself that it was just sadness at the loss of a teammate, but everything inside him knew it was something more than that.

He'd known Keith for a long time. He knew that much, but when he struggled to remember what Keith had been to him back on Earth, his memories seemed to be locked behind a wall built by the Galra. Everything before his capture was so hazy and muddled that he found it difficult to answer the question of what Keith had meant to him before because he truly couldn't remember. And that bothered him more than anything else.

Everything in his body was telling him that he had to protect him. Every time he saw him hurting or upset it was like every instinct in his body told him to help him. Why? Why couldn't he remember anything? He knew Keith had been important to him before. The way he tensed when Keith's safety could be at stake told him that much. His own body knew more than he did. His body could remember what he couldn't. So _why?_

Frustration swelled in his chest as he gritted his teeth and quickened his pace. Hadn't they taken enough from him already? They'd taken his arm and a year of his life. They took him from his home and made him into a monster. Why did they get to take the memories of those close to him too? Would he ever really be able to escape them? Would he ever regain what they'd taken from him?

The more he dwelt on it the more irritated he became and the faster he paced the halls. To _know_ that you're forgetting something important, but being completely unable to remember it was the most _frustrating_ thing in the world. His surroundings went unnoticed as he passed them by, and he wasn't sure how many times he went past the same doors. Before he realized where he was going, he found himself in the Black Lion's bay.

The beast sat quietly hunched where he had left it earlier and Shiro finally stopped in front of him. Standing here and being angry about the Galra wasn't going to help him right now. The only power he had was to fight them, both as Voltron and in his own mind. The only solace he had in their reign over him was that he would never stop fighting against them. He closed his eyes and took a steadying breath.

 _Think, Shiro. No one can completely erase memories. They must be there. Just think._

He concentrated on that wall that blocked him off from everything he knew. Keith, Earth, the Garrison; everything about his past was behind that wall. If he just relaxed and focused then maybe he could get through it. This was just another battle against the Galra. He had to fight.

 _What does Keith mean to me?_ He focused hard on Lance's words. If he could just focus harder, maybe he could break through the haze of his memories. How had they met? How long had he known him? They were close, he knew that, but were they as close as family or just friends? Come on, Shiro, think!

He set his hand against the Black Lion's leg, gritting his teeth in frustration. It was like he was staring into a black hole in his mind and just knowing that there was so much he was missing was so frustrating.

The black lion's roar suddenly tore through his concentration and he snapped his eyes open. When he did he found himself in the astral plane surrounded by the stars under which he'd once fought Zarkon to win Black's trust.

"What? Why did you send me here?" His voice echoed and he turned to Black who sat quietly perched beside him, but the lion remained silent. When he approached him, he refused to kneel and allow him entry. "What's gotten into you?"

Why would the Black Lion bring him here now? Did he know something?

"Black?" A voice echoed behind him that made him turn on his heel. When he did he was met with the confused and bewildered face of…himself. He stared for a moment with his mouth agape, not quite sure if he was staring into a mirror, but the reflection didn't mimic his movements as he approached the stoic black lion. His eyes were wide with shock and he stared at Black like he was a ghost.

"Who are you?" Shiro quickly activated his Galra arm. This didn't make sense. There couldn't be two of him, and only paladins of the Black lion could enter this astral plane. But Black had clearly brought them both here for a reason. Was this other Shiro some figment of his own imagination or some manifestation of his inner being created by Black? Was this some kind of test to help him rediscover himself? Could this other Shiro answer his questions?

"I'd like to ask you the same thing." The other Shiro held his gaze with Black and his entire demeanor seemed sad. He didn't bother to activate his Galra arm and his eyes seemed almost pleading as he stared at the Black Lion. When the lion made no move to respond to him he clenched his jaw and calmly turned to Shiro. "The black lion brought you here...are you his pilot?"

"Yes." If this was a trial then truthful answers were the way to go, but his response brought on a pained expression to the other Shiro. He looked hurt by the simple response like it was unexpected. Hadn't he already known the answer? If this was just a reflection of himself, why did he look so hurt?

"Why?" The other Shiro gritted his teeth and shot a pained glare at the Black Lion, clenching his fists. His voice rose in confusion and frustration, "After everything that happened, you sent me away! We had a bond! What is it that you want me to do?"

His voice echoed through the astral plane, but the lion remained still. It wasn't so much of an angry statement as it was one of betrayal and confusion. Was this some inner reflection of his feelings towards Black for sending him to the Galra after the fight with Zarkon? It was true he had felt betrayed by Black but he had tried to put those feelings behind him for the greater good. Once he was able to pilot him again he'd thought he'd finally buried the hatchet. Was Black upset about those feelings?

The other Shiro was facing him again. "Why did he bring you here?"

Why? He wasn't so sure. But the Black Lion may know more about him then he did himself. He knew of his feelings of betrayal, so what else could he know? He must have some answers about Keith. Maybe he could help him break down that wall. If this was Black's way of communicating with him, then he would cooperate. He deactivated his arm and glanced at the lion. "I think he knows the things that I can't remember. I came here because I need to know about Keith."

"Keith?" A look of surprise and then fear ran across the other Shiro's face. "What happened to Keith?"

Didn't he already know? Black had been there. He had seen everything. How would this repetition help him remember anything?

His slight pause was enough to cast worry across the other Shiro's face. He stepped towards him and repeated himself with more stress in his tone."What happened to Keith?"

"He was hurt. He's healing but even though I know he'll be fine, I can't shake this dread in my stomach. After hearing Matt say that he almost sacrificed himself and then seeing him covered in blood I…" He felt his throat tighten slightly, and he was surprised that the truth seemed to come out so easily. Being in this place seemed to draw out his honesty. "I know there's something I'm forgetting. I need to know what Keith meant to me before all of this. I know he's been there to save me so many times but…I can't remember."

What was that look in the other Shiro's expression? He couldn't quite place it. Shock? Fear? Relief? It changed between a series of emotions so quickly and unexpectedly that he couldn't figure out what he was thinking. He opened his mouth to speak. "Keith-"

His words were cut short when Black suddenly rose and released a deafening roar that that they could feel through their bones. With that roar came his words as if it were their own.

 _"You both have questions which you cannot answer. Understanding cannot be obtained alone. You, my paladins, each have the answers that the other desires. Only together can you become whole. Rely on each other to reach your goals."_

Rely on each other…? So this wasn't his imagination? He made it sound as if this other Shiro that stood before him was an actual person. How? Where did he come from? But only Black Paladins could come here. Was it possible that the Black Lion could bring himself from the past or the future? All of this was only creating more questions and no answers.

The other Shiro stayed still, watching Black. He stood so still and focused that for a moment it seemed as if he was receiving a message from the lion privately which Shiro could not hear. Just as the thought crossed his mind, the other Shiro turned to him and his eyes were different now. They were filled with a fiery determination.

In two long steps he was suddenly right in front of Shiro and he clasped his hands tight on his shoulders. His stare bore into identical eyes and his words were full of strength. "Listen to me. _Know_ who you are. You're the Black Paladin of Voltron. When you forget everything else remember that. The others will help you. Keith…"

He paused at the name, and a gentle smile found its way to his lips and his grip softened a little. "Keith knows me…he knows you…more than you'll know yourself sometimes. Rely on him. And let him rely on you. Protect him. He'll always protect you. With him there, you won't go astray."

"Why…?" The word escaped him before he could stop it. He knew the words were true, but he couldn't remember why. A seed of desperation grew in his chest. He had to know why.

"Keith is the most important person in your life." The other Shiro looked much softer now, and he squeezed his shoulder a little. "And he'll continue to be. Work with me, and I'll help you remember. Keith and I can help you remember who you are. But there's too much to tell you now. Listen to me, Shiro. Things are going to get harder for you. You need to-"

 _"Shiro."_

For a moment his concentration seemed to blur and when the other Shiro spoke he couldn't quite make out his words. He tried to clear his foggy mind and focus.

"-your thoughts may not seem like your own. Remember who you are. I'll help you. But please, don't fall into their hands, Shiro. They'll be in your mind. Don't let them use you. Rely on us, rely on the Paladins and on Keith. He will help you. Are you listening to me? Shiro, you are-"

 _"Shiro."_

There it was again, the sound of someone calling his name. The entire scene in front of him seemed to warp at the sound and he struggled to comprehend the muddled words that left the other Shiro's lips. What was he saying? What did he mean? Who would be in his mind? He still knew nothing about his past with Keith. How was any of this helping him understand what he was forgetting? He clenched his jaw and tried to focus on his words.

He felt someone touch his arm and in the blink of an eye the scene in front of him changed completely. In an instant he was back in the bay with the Black lion sitting in front of him as though he hadn't moved at all. The other Shiro was gone, his words left unheard, and instead Allura stood beside him with a concerned looked and a hand clutching his arm.

"Shiro, are you alright?" She seemed to trace his face with her eyes and her worry deepened. "You're absolutely ashen."

"I'm fine." He brought a hand to his face and felt beads of sweat along his forehead. His mind swam with a thousand more questions and no answers at all. Who was that other Shiro and how did he have the answers he needed? How was he supposed to help him? Would he see him again to get some answers?

Allura's concerned gaze bore into the side of his head, so he forced a small smile for her. "I was just…spacing out. Sorry."

She didn't seem entirely convinced at that answer, but she let the subject drop and pulled her hand away hesitantly. "All right then. Whenever you're ready we should gather the others. We have a lot of questions for Lotor, so once everyone is together it may be time to release him from the holding chamber."

"You're right. Let's call everyone down." That scene was over for now, and it was time to be the leader of Voltron. He had to focus on the team right now. He turned to follow Allura out of the bay, but paused for just a second to glance back at the Black lion. His answers were locked away somewhere with some other Shiro from who knows where or when. But they were there, and that meant he could reach them eventually. That alone would be a victory against the Galra.


	6. Chapter 6

_"Please, you must understand." Lotor's words felt unheard and lost in the darkness around him. There was nothing but blackness surrounding him except for the three figures that stood before him. Acxa, Ezor and Zethrid glared at him with expressions that held nothing but anger and disdain. Disgust, fury, betrayal, all of it was so clearly written on their faces that none of it required words._

 _Why? Why couldn't they see what he was trying to show them? Everything he was doing was for the good of the empire, and for them. Bringing them here was supposed to explain everything. This was their goal that they had worked towards together. He had prepared strength, power, and the ability to change this empire as they as a team wished for it to be changed. Why didn't they understand?_

 _"For Narti." Acxa's words rang through the scene as his teammates turned their back to him._

 _"She was possessed by the witch!" He could only watch as they walked away from him, and even if he tried to follow they only got further and further away. "Haggar would have rendered everything useless. You must understand that!"_

 _His words fell on deaf ears as the figures faded away in the distance, refusing to listen. He gritted his teeth in frustration. Did they possibly believe that he had wanted to kill Narti? Didn't they understand that he would have never gone to such lengths if he had had any other choice? This goal was one that Narti had wanted. He could not allow the witch to stop it._

 _A hand touched his shoulder behind him, which caused him to_ _startle slightly_ _. He hadn't heard anyone or even felt the presence of a person. He spun on his heel and found Narti behind him with Kova curled neatly across her shoulders._

 _"Narti." He made an effort to step towards her, but found his body frozen and unable to move. He focused on keeping his composure calm and focused on her. "Narti, please, I did what I had to do. The witch had possessed you. There was no other way to secure the secrecy of the project. Surely, you know that."_

 _He didn't expect a response, he knew she couldn't give one, but none the less he hoped that she could see what the others couldn't._

 _She stepped towards him and drew herself so close that she was only an inch from his chest. Kova stared at him with an unfaltering gaze that he couldn't move to pull his eyes from. She stood still there for a moment, so close to him and yet not quite touching. She refused to release the hold on his mind and allow him to step away. "Release me."_

 _She raised a hand, but made no effort to obey his command. She set her palm gently against his chest and rested it there for only a second before pulling her hand back quickly. She suddenly thrust her clawed fingers against him and the strength and speed of the attack pierced through his chest like a blade. Her hand cleaved through armor and bone and pain ripped through him in an instant._

Lotor awoke with a start, and the scene in front of him was no longer the dark void he had just been in, but instead he was faced with the paladins of Voltron. He had been awoken from his cryopod, but didn't feel rested at all. He flexed his fingers just to be sure that he could and raised his hand to his chest. There was no wound. It hadn't been real. It was just a dream.

"Lotor." Shiro stood front and center, as he always did, with Allura only a few steps behind him. Pidge, Lance and Hunk stood behind them with their bayards at the ready. "We've made a decision."

"Have you?" Lotor quickly regained his composure, forcing the dream into the back of his mind. He straightened his shoulders and lifted his chin. "Let's hear it then."

"We went to both the locations you gave us coordinates to." Allura took a place beside Shiro, watching Lotor with a look of equal distrust and disgust. "We managed to take the Galra base and have already cleared the entire area of all Galra occupation. We've added a great number of allies to our coalition because of the victory."

"So it is as I told you it would be." Lotor smirked as he glanced between them. "You must realize now that the information I have is legitimate. I can help your cause greatly."

"The second mission didn't go as smoothly." Shiro's words were icy as he ignored Lotor. "Keith and Kolivan managed to get the intel, but the hub exploded before they could get out."

"I did warn you beforehand that stealth was necessary for that mission." Lotor frowned. Like any Galra hub, it was no surprise that it was rigged to explode at the loss of such valuable information. He had hoped that the Blade of Marmora would live up to their reputation in stealth, but it would seem that wasn't the case.

"They survived, and we got the intel." Shiro's stern face flickered with just a tiny glimpse of cockiness as he said that. "The only reason we're talking to you now is because of that intel. You know where that quintessence supply line is coming from and going to. We need that information."

"I am well aware of that, but you've already received all the information I'm willing to give until you agree to my terms." Lotor took a step out of the open pod which caused the three Paladins to raise their bayards a little higher. He folded his arms behind his back and his frown deepened. If these Paladins thought they could pry for anything more without a deal, they were sorely mistaken.

"That's what we thought you would say." Allura crossed her arms and stepped back as Shiro stepped forward. He extended his Galra hand towards him.

"We're agreeing to your terms, but this doesn't mean that we trust you. You won't have free roam of this castle and you won't get to know everything. We need your information for our cause, and you'll get a place to stay safe from Zarkon, and that's it. Deal?"

Lotor contemplated his words for a minute, admittedly mildly taken aback at their acceptance after hearing of the result of the second mission. He wasn't surprised at the decision, however. It was the logical answer after all. He grinned and took Shiro's hand, giving it a firm shake. "We have a deal."

"Good. Then it's time we get some answers. Follow us." Shiro turned to lead the group out with Allura at his side. The other three waited for Lotor to follow and took up the rear.

They walked through the halls in silence, and Lotor took the opportunity to observe his surroundings. The castle was small in comparison to the Galra headquarters, but it was quaint and still bigger than he had suspected. The structure was elegant and well built. Being in this castle felt like he was like looking at an old piece of art; Outdated, but impressive in comparison to its time.

He fell into step beside Allura and folded his arms behind himself once again. "Your castle is astounding, Princess. Alteans were far ahead of their time ten thousand years ago."

"I am well aware of the quality of my castle." Allura cast him a side glance that bordered on a glare. "As I said before, flattery will get you nowhere here."

"It isn't flattery, merely observation." Lotor was suddenly shoved to the side as Lance wedged himself between him and Allura.

"Step away from the Princess." He shoved his weapon in his face with a menacing glare. He refused to move until Lotor let out a soft chuckle and stepped back.

A door slid open in front of them and they entered the bridge, where Coran had the screens full with the intel they had gathered. His center screen had the map that Keith and Kolivan had brought back, while the left and right screens filtered through all the other intel on the chip. It seemed to contain things like coordinates, times that Galra ships would dock and where they would go next. It was a goldmine of information. Coran turned to face them as they entered. "Oh, you're just in time. Keith just woke up from his healing pod. He's going to change and he should be right up."

Those words seemed to send a wave of relief over the paladins, and Lance finally quit glaring at Lotor.

"That's great to hear. "Shiro smiled and took a place beside Coran. "What have you figured out?"

"I'm still searching through all of the information on the chip, but the most important thing we've found so far is this." Coran motioned to the map so that everyone's attention was on it. "It's a full map of the quintessence supply line that the Blades of Marmora were investigating. The section they discovered is here."

He highlighted a tiny portion of the map, which really made it clear just how expansive this supply line was. "The Galra seemed to keep the supply line a secret by making it so large. It spans across multiple quadrants, with hundreds of small hidden bases and stops along the way. There also seems to specific planets included. They could be used as bases or holding facilities. The intel doesn't specify their purpose."

The door to the room slid open and caught everyone's attention. Keith came inside clad in his normal outfit and he was tugging on his familiar red jacket. He looked none the worse for wear. The pod had healed everything besides a small pain in his shoulder, which he seemed to be trying to work out as he twisted his arm. He looked a little nervous at everyone's stares. "Hey."

"Keith!" Hunk lunged at him, scooping him up into a hug that yanked him off his feet. "Welcome back!"

"Don't scare us like that!" Pidge punched Keith in the arm before she joined the hug. "We all thought you were going to die."

"Yeah, man. We were so worried." Hunk set him back down and pulled away. "What happened?"

"One of the Galra guards came back before we could get out of the control room with the intel. She set off a bomb before we could attack her." Keith took a second to recompose himself after the bear hug. "Kolivan shielded me from the worst of it."

"We're grateful that the both of you survived." Allura set a hand on his arm and gave it an affectionate squeeze.

"Would have been nice to lose that mullet though." Lance cocked an eyebrow and pointed at the hair around Keith's neck.

"Why do you have such a problem with my hair?" Keith snapped with his usual temper when it came to Lance, which elicited a chuckle from the latter.

"That's the Keith I know." He gave him a pat on the shoulder. "I'm glad the rest of you is okay."

"It's great to have you back safe." Shiro held out a hand and when Keith grabbed it he pulled him into a hug.

"Yeah." Keith returned it with a smile. "I'm guessing your mission went well."

"Yes, we've expanded our territory even more and now have control of a large Galra hub in the area." Allura answered with a smile, which quickly faded into slight concern. "With the intel you gathered and the success of our mission, it seemed logical to consider Lotor's terms."

"And you accepted." Keith turned to look at Lotor, who stood quietly distanced from the heartfelt scene and focused on the monitors. The fact that he was here in the control room with no bindings was enough to let Keith know the team's decision on the matter.

"We don't have to trust him, but we can't ignore the fact that he has the answers to all of our questions. If he's being sincere, having him on our side is a huge advantage." Shiro returned to his position beside Coran.

"Okay…what do we know?" Keith folded his arms cross his chest and focused on the intel on screen. He couldn't share much opinion on the Lotor issue, because he hadn't really had a chance to form one. He'd been too busy in a healing chamber. Besides…he wasn't a part of team Voltron. This was their decision.

"I believe I can answer that." Lotor spoke up. "This supply line is the Galra Empire's main source of energy. Pure quintessence is harvested in a physical form and transported to hidden bases for conversion into Galra fuel. Which, of course, you are well aware, being that you did infiltrate one of those bases previously."

"How have you managed to turn quintessence into a physical form?" Coran inquired with genuine curiosity.

"The witch Haggar and her druids are able to perform a ritual which extracts the quintessence of entire planets in mere ticks. Once the discovery was made that this was possible, the need for growth and power has led to the creation of this expansive supply line." Lotor gestured to the map in front of them.

"She's completely eliminating entire planets." Allura held a look of horror at that news. Planets that people and animals lived on the Galra were now harvesting for fuel. She should have seen it on the Balmera. The Galra had completely torn the creature apart. Now they were doing the same to entire planets. "Pure quintessence is an extremely powerful source of energy. One small planet's supply of quintessence should be enough energy to fuel many ships for thousands of years. Just how much quintessence is being harvested?"

"Every planet on this map is marked as a source of quintessence. And once they are drained, the route will be adjusted and others will be added. Hundreds of planets have already been eliminated for the sake of the Galra Empire." Lotor turned to face Allura. His expression was calm, as if the news that countless planets were being destroyed was something to be relaxed about.

"What do you intend to use it for…?" Allura focused on the planets on the screen. What could the Galra be planning that would require so much energy…?

" _I_ have no intention with it whatsoever. This method of quintessence collection is not something I agree with. A fact of which Haggar is well aware. I think it is a crude and outdated method that weakens the Empire." His eyes narrowed as he spoke about the witch. "She, however, keeps her intentions well-guarded."

"You don't know?" Hunk questioned, sounding a little doubtful. "You're the Prince of the Galra, and you were the emperor for a few months recently. How do you not know?"

"The witch and I have never been on good terms." Banishing him for thousands of years didn't usually create a compatible relationship, but he kept that to himself. "Months ago, you fought my father. He is very much alive and well today, but he is not one to take loss well. Power is his only concern. You have refused to hand over Voltron, and so he is creating something stronger in order to either acquire it or destroy it. In order to achieve that, a large amount of quintessence is necessary."

"So…what? They're making some giant anti-voltron robot?" Lance raised an eyebrow.

"I think a Voltron _destroying_ robot is more accurate." Pidge looked concerned as she took all of this in. "With that much quintessence he'll be basically unstoppable…"

"Using this much quintessence isn't necessarily a good thing." Coran spoke up as he plucked at his mustache. "It's true that pure quintessence is a powerful energy source, but using too much of it will cause the systems to either crash or become corrupted. The technology we have today can't possibly handle such an influx of quintessence. They will have to create something that is able to handle all of that energy."

"The comet." Keith's eyes were trained on Lotor. "You had us get the comet so that you could use its material, didn't you?"

Lotor let out a sarcastic chuckle. "I've never had any desire to aid the witch in her plans. The comet was something I wanted of my own accord. I wanted a ship that could rival Voltron in speed, defense and power. However, my ship did not use the entirety of the comet, and my plans were discovered by Haggar. She deemed my possession of the comet a threat to the Empire, which led to the call for my head. She is now in possession of the remaining part of the comet. It's highly likely it will be used in her plan."

"So it sounds like our best course of action is to cut off this supply of quintessence from reaching her Voltron destroyer robot." Shiro was already working on forming a plan in his head. "We'll have to move quickly or risk being too late and having to face it at full power."

"Kolivan was already planning a mission to infiltrate the supply line. There's a holding facility here." Keith stepped forward and motioned to the area they had discovered, drawing a line between the small dot that resembled a base and the neighboring planet. "We'll have to eliminate the Galra occupation on that planet that the supply line leads to in order for us to go in and destroy the holding facility. That will cut off the supply route here."

"So we'll have to target all of the holding facilities and all of the planets we see here. Once we liberate these planets, if they decide to join our coalition, we'll have more manpower to tackle this huge map." Shiro crossed his arms as he worked through all of this in his mind. This was no small feat. This would take a multitude of missions and time to conquer. He also had to consider the territory they had already liberated and focus manpower and maintaining that region that Zarkon was clearly keen on getting back. Their forces were going to be stretched extremely thin.

"And what do you intend to do with the quintessence in the holding facilities that you destroy?" Lotor inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"He has a point." Allura had been wondering the same thing. "Quintessence cannot simply be destroyed. Even if we blow up the entire facility the quintessence will remain. It is simply raw energy with a physical form or not. Unless it is converted into a fuel and exerted there is no destroying it. We can't allow it to just…float around in space. The Galra will simply recollect it all once they are given the opportunity."

"So…we'll have to collect it all and put it somewhere where they can't get it. Where can we hide hundreds of containers of quintessence that the Galra can't find? " Hunk tapped his chin. You know, that was super easy considering the Galra ruled 2/3rds of the entire known universe and really wanted the other 1/3rd back.

"What about Naxzela?" Lance threw out a suggestion with a shrug. "I mean, it's already got a huge underground cavern in the center of the deactivated the giant orb thing that that witch lady Haggar tried to use to blow everything up right?"

"It could be a good idea. We'll have Naxzela more heavily guarded than any other planet anyway because of what happened the other day." Pidge agreed. "The soil is still sensitive to high pressure but there shouldn't be the threat of that anymore. Hiding the quintessence underground in our largest and most heavily guarded planet is the best idea I can see."

"All right then." Shiro turned to Keith."How long will it take for the Blades to be ready to do the infiltration mission?"

"All the other blades are out on defense missions. We'll need Kolivan." Keith looked to Coran about that. "Is he going to be alright?"

"He should be completely healed by tomorrow morning." Coran looked a little concerned. "But it's not as if he'll pop out ready to go on another mission immediately. He'll need food and rest to make up for the lost quintessence that the pods use to accelerate the natural healing process. It will likely take at least another day of rest until he's fully recovered, and the same goes for you, Keith."

"Then we'll take tomorrow to get ready and rested." Shiro turned to face the team. "Then Keith and Kolivan will infiltrate the holding facility while we take out the Galra rule on the neighboring planet. Once we take control of the facility, we'll send over transport ships to bring the quintessence to Naxzela. This is going to be an ongoing thing until we can we can completely cut off the Galra quintessence supply. Sound like a plan?"

"Aye, aye, captain." Lance gave a salute in approval and the others chimed in with their agreement.

"Good. Then get some rest for tonight." Shiro smiled. "You'll need it once we start this mission. It's going to be a long one."

"This is really quite a development." Allura mused from beside him as she focused on the map. "We've made quite a bit of progress in just a few days' time."

"Yeah. Let's just hope it keeps looking up." Shiro gave her a gentle smile before a thought crossed his mind and he turned on his heel. "Keith?"

But Keith was already gone, as was Lance. Shiro frowned at that. Keith was always stalking off places, and he had hoped to talk to him.

"So…where's the new guy going to sleep?" Pidge shoved a thumb in Lotor's direction, and her expression seemed to say what everyone else was thinking. No one wanted to be next door to the guy who might kill them in their sleep tonight.


	7. Chapter 7

"Keith wait!" Lance ran out the doorway once he'd realized Keith had left, finding him already halfway down the hallway. His shout managed to catch his attention and he turned to him with a raised brow.

"Yeah?" He came to a stop and looked a little taken aback when Lance jogged across the hall to reach him.

"Are you ok? I mean you kind of…" Lance's words drifted for a moment as he couldn't quite figure out the right ones. He straightened and collected himself for just a second. "Look, you really freaked us out, okay? You almost died!"

"I know." Keith cast is eyes to the ground. He knew. What did he want him to say? Sorry for almost dying? This was a war. Death was common and unavoidable. He couldn't apologize for it. "But Kolivan shielded me. He's the reason I didn't."

"No, Red is the reason you didn't." Lance tensed up a little as the images of Keith, bloodied and battered, ran through his brain. "It was Red who saved you. He took me across the entire _galaxy_ to get to you in time. If we'd arrived any later you wouldn't be here. He's still connected to you. You were _dying_ , Keith. You were sputtering blood and gasping and there was just blood everywhere. It was…it was something I don't ever want to see again."

Lance had to look away briefly, squeezing his eyes shut to block out the images. "It was your connection to Red that saved you."

"What…?" Keith's mind began to race. Had Red really travelled so far to save him? But why? Lance was his Paladin now. They shouldn't have any connection anymore. It didn't make sense. "That's impossible. I haven't piloted Red in months."

"Yes, it is possible because it happened." Lance stressed his words. "You're alive right now because of the Red lion. You shouldn't be out there with the Marmorites getting blown up or trying to fly into barriers, Keith. You should be in Red. Safe and doing your ninja pilot maneuvering…whatever it is you do. You're his true pilot. All of this proves that. No other lion has ever travelled so far to save a Paladin."

"I'm not his Paladin anymore. You are." Keith seemed a little overwhelmed by all of this as his mind raced with questions. Red had shown loyalty to him time and time again. It should be Lance receiving that loyalty now, not him. Red should be protecting Lance from getting blown up or flying into barriers, not _him_. Wait… "How did you know about the barrier…?"

Lance folded his arms, giving Keith a hard stare. His words were sharp. "Matt told us. You were planning to sacrifice yourself to bring down the barrier at Naxzela. How could you even think about doing something like that so easily?"

"I didn't know what else to do. Time was running out, and if I didn't do something soon everyone would have died." Keith's words came out defensive. This mission was much more important than the individual. Everyone knew that. If one person died for the sake of the entire coalition, wouldn't they have done the same?

"So it's okay if it's you?" Lance's stare didn't falter and he stepped closer to Keith, voice rising. "This is exactly what I'm talking about! Is that the mindset that the Marmorites have? That everyone is disposable and it doesn't matter who dies? Is that what you think? Is this really what you want, Keith? Are you really happy there?"

Keith was a little surprised at that question. Why did it matter if he was happy? No one was happy in war. None of that mattered. What mattered was winning this war. What mattered was protecting everyone. "I don't know why you're so mad. I'm not dead."

"No, you're not. But what about next time? What happens if Red isn't close enough to reach you in time? What happens if you're killed instantly?" Lance was close now, but his face didn't reflect anger. He was upset, with knitted brows and glassy eyes. He was upset that Keith didn't understand. He was upset that he would so blatantly disregard his own life without any concern as to how the rest of the team would feel. How could he think that throwing away his life was ever an acceptable solution? **"** I'm not mad, Keith. I'm trying to understand how I ever got to a place where I had to hold my _friend_ in my arms, covered in blood and gasping for air on the brink of death. I'm trying to figure out how to make sure that never happens again. I can't do that again, Keith. And if you're going to be out there flinging yourself towards death, then you shouldn't be there! You should be here, with Red!"

"This is a war!" Keith's voice came out louder than he intended, as he felt his heart rate rising and his face growing hot. "I have to do everything I can to lead us to victory. I'm not _flinging_ myself towards death, I'm doing everything I can to protect everyone else! If I have to die to make sure everyone else lives, then I'll do it."

"How would you feel if it was one of us saying that?" Lance's voice remained quiet despite Keith's outburst. "How would you feel if it was one of us who died? If _you_ had to be the one holding me or Pidge or _Shiro_ in your arms, not knowing if you would be the last one they ever see. Not knowing if you would make it to the castle in time and you'd have to hear their last breath. Keith, think about it! _Think_ about what you're saying. You're part of this team. We can't lose you."

"No, I'm not!" Keith looked a little pained at those words. "I'm not a Paladin anymore. I couldn't be the leader you all needed. All I did was hurt the team. Now that Shiro is piloting the Black lion again, you guys have made way more progress than I ever did as leader. I wasn't a good fit, and with Shiro as your leader, you won't have to worry about anyone getting hurt. And if anything happens the lions will protect you. I don't have a role there anymore."

"Yes, you do." Lance grabbed Keith by the arms and his blue eyes bore into his." We _need_ you. You're Red's true Paladin. I don't have the same connection to him that you have. That you _still_ have. We can't form sword without you, which is our strongest weapon. Not only that, but Shiro seems to respond better to you as his right hand. He won't listen to me."

Lance's voice faltered at that, sounding almost hurt. "You should be piloting Red, not me. It's me who's in the wrong position."

"Lance, stop." Keith pulled free of his grip, holding out his hands as a signal to slow down. "What do you mean Shiro won't listen to you?"

"It's like he still sees me as a leg…or maybe he sees me as a kid, I don't know. But he won't listen to me. We don't have whatever it is that you two had. He respects you. We need you back in Red. The _team_ needs you back in Red. That's where you belong." Lance stepped back and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"No, it's not. All I did was make mistakes. I hurt everyone." Keith found himself avoiding Lance's determined eyes, trying to look anywhere else but at him. "Red is your lion, Lance. You earned his trust. You deserve to pilot him. The team needs _you_. I can't take your place."

"Yes, you can. I keep telling you, I don't have the same kind of bond with Red that you have." Lance ran a hand through his hair, growing a little frustrated with this back-and-forth. Why would Keith not want Red back? He'd never wanted to leave him to go to Black. So why was he arguing here? "You're a better pilot than me. You're better at combat than me. Shiro trusts you more than me."

"But I'm not _you_." Keith stressed his words and gestured towards Lance, as if doing so would get his point across, but he was only met with a confused raised eyebrow. How could he explain what he was feeling? This wasn't his strong suit, and all he wanted to do was get away from here, but if he did that Lance would definitely follow. But he couldn't replace Lance and he couldn't figure out how to explain. He found words just sort of tumbling out. "You don't get it. You're the goofball, like Pidge said, and for some reason you think that's a bad thing. But this is a war, Lance. Out there…with the Blades of Marmora, there are so many times when I wish that you were there. I needed to hear some stupid pun, or compete in some game, or even hear one of your dumb comments that we all laugh at because out there all I've seen is people around me dying. This is a war and it's grim and it's like…it's like you ground me. Or…the whole team. You keep us sane. All the destruction and all the death…it's kind of a relief to be able to laugh and not have all the heavy stuff feel so heavy. It's something I didn't realize I needed until I left. The team needs you to de-stress the really high intensity situations. I can't do that. I only make things worse. I can't take your place."

His statement was followed with silence. It was something he rarely got from Lance. He just stared at him. He seemed completely taken aback, his eyes wide and eyebrows risen. It sent a wave of nausea straight to Keith's stomach. What had he even said? It must have sounded so stupid and cheesy. He wouldn't take any of it seriously. He should have kept his mouth shut. He felt stupid and his face suddenly felt very hot. He crossed his arms tight across his chest and avoided Lance's gaze. "So that's why you need to stay with Red. I'm going to go check on Kolivan."

He turned quickly to make his escape, but Lance caught his arm before he could get too far. Even so, Keith refused to turn to face him. "Let go. I'm not going back to Red. I've made my choice."

"Stop doing this to yourself." Lance's grip tightened slightly. He had to focus on keeping the emotion out of his voice. "Stop sacrificing yourself for us. Come back. You belong here just as much as any of us."

"No, I don't!" Keith yanked himself away from Lance, keeping his face turned away. "Just stop. I couldn't be a leader and I hurt the team. I hurt you. I don't have a place there anymore, Lance. Just let me do what I can from afar with the Blades. Just let me pretend that I belong somewhere."

He didn't give Lance the chance to continue this argument. He took long strides to make it down the rest of the hall, and refused to look back as he left Lance there alone.

He stood motionless for a while, taking in all of Keith's words. Words that seemed like they should never have come out of Keith's mouth. They probably weren't supposed to. How much truth was there behind them? Did everyone else feel that way? Did the rest of the team feel like Lance's goofball persona was…relieving? They always reacted with annoyance, so he found it difficult to believe. Could he even be that person right now? He was only human. No one is happy all the time. He suddenly felt like there was an even bigger weight on his shoulders.

"Lance? You ok?" Pidge touched his arm gently, since he seemed to be spacing out in the middle of the hall. Hunk and Lotor were close behind her and they stopped when she did with Hunk harboring a look of concern.

Lance turned to look at her and she could see an obvious array of upset, anger and sadness in his face. They had only caught the very end of his and Keith's conversation, but it was obvious none of it had gone well. For a second, Lance seemed lost as he stared at her, but then he cast a glance towards Hunk and Lotor and almost immediately his expression vanished into the usual carefree Lance. He waved a dismissive hand at her. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. It's just stupid Keith."

"You wanna come with us to bring Lotor to his room? Afterwards, I was thinking about playing some _Killbot Phantasm I_." She grinned and gave him a slight nudge in the side.

"I dunno. I'm actually pretty tired." Lance feigned a yawn that she didn't believe for half a second. "I was going to hit the showers and have some much needed Lance time to myself."

"Oh, come on. Matt started a game last night after dinner and has been playing it literally _all_ day and he's going to get ahead of us." She pouted at the idea of her big brother beating her at a video game that he started playing later than her. She could never accept that. "Besides, I promised I wouldn't play it without you. And _I_ actually keep my promises."

"You're never going to let me live that down are you?" Lance sighed, knowing she wasn't going to let him say no. "All right, all right. I'll admit I don't want Matt to beat us either, so I'll come."

"Great!" She beamed and practically pushed him down the hallway.

Keith found himself walking fast to the healing bay, clenching his fists the entire way. His mind felt so muddled that he couldn't focus. Every bone in his body screamed frustration and pent up anger that he couldn't explain. A flurry of thoughts overwhelmed his mind.

 _"Is this really what you want, Keith? Are you really happy?"_ Lance's words plagued his mind, and no matter how much he tried, he couldn't shake them out. Who was he to ask something like that? How could he just give up his place in Voltron so easily? How could he talk about leaving so nonchalantly? Especially when it had been so hard for him to do.

He wanted to scream, and he wanted to fight, but he knew none of it would help. _I_ _s this really what you want?_ He didn't know. He couldn't answer that because he didn't want to admit that what he really wanted was to accept Lance's offer and go back to Red. Go back to where he felt like he had a home and a place, but whenever he even imagined the possibility all he could remember was the looks of disappointment on all of their faces. Disappointment that had been aimed at him. Harsh words and accusations aimed at him. He had failed as a leader and as a team member. He couldn't go back there. He couldn't no matter how much he wished he could. He'd been rejected just like he always knew he would.

And he could never take Lance's place. Sure, he made mistakes and he needed to keep practicing. Sure, he needed to work on his bond with Red and maybe be a little less of a show off, but when things get tough, Lance was always the one who brought him back down to earth. Not just him, but the entire team. When things were so difficult after Shiro disappeared, it had been Lance that helped him keep everything together. When things get dark, it's Lance that makes everyone laugh, or lifts their spirits. He couldn't possibly take that place. He had no role on the team anymore.

This is the best thing he could think to do to make sure Voltron had the best team possible. This was the only way he could think to make sure everyone close to him was where they were supposed to be. They were safe in Voltron, and they were doing great things without him. They'd been more successful without him than they ever had with him.

 _"Are you really happy?"_ Those words seemed to dig painfully in the back of his mind. There is no happiness in war. Sacrifices need to be made, and this was one of them. Maybe he wasn't happy, but maybe he was never meant to be. He could only recall a handful of times in his life when he could say he had truly been happy. His first time in the cockpit of the Red lion had been one of them. But if his happiness hurt the rest of the team, then he was undeserving of it. He had been born in a world where he was never meant to be happy, and when he sat down and thought about it, he felt more comfortable this way. He was used to this feeling of loneliness. He was used to the heavy weight in his chest that longed for more. This was normal. This was how it was supposed to be.

He had to repeat that over and over again. _This is how it's supposed to be._ _Get over yourself. Do what you can from afar. But you can't go back. There's no place for you there. Remember their faces. Remember their disappointment. You don't belong there._

He gritted his teeth and cursed quietly under his breath. He made his way to Kolivans' healing chamber and took a seat on the flood beside it, leaning his back against the tube as he pulled his legs to his chest. He felt so _frustrated_. Nothing he did was ever right. Couldn't he just make one correct choice? Couldn't he just do _something_ right for once?

This is just how it's supposed to be.

Shiro stood at the door to the healing bay, but hesitated for a moment before going inside. His thoughts were buzzing around in his head at a million miles a minute. He had so much that he wanted to say. The last few days had been a whirlwind of emotions and now was the time to gather it all and get it off his chest. He took a quick moment to collect himself.

When he was ready, he took a step forward and the door slid open. It was easy to spot Keith, considering the room was completely empty besides him and Kolivan's healing pod. Keith was sitting beside it with his knees drawn to his chest and his arms across them. He had rested his head against them and seemed to have fallen asleep. That was completely understandable. The healing pods really took it out of you.

Shiro smiled softly and took a seat on the floor beside him. He set his hand on top of Keith's head and allowed it to rest there, and the touch was enough to make Keith open his eyes a little, mostly just to be sure it was Shiro and no one else.

There was a soft silence for a while as they just sat beside each other and allowed their own thoughts to fill their minds. Words were being chosen and feelings were being gathered and it was Shiro who first broke the silence. "You almost died, you know."

"I know…" Keith spoke into his knees and whether it was because he was tired or because he was trying to hide, Shiro wasn't too sure. "Lance already lectured me."

Shiro let out a laugh and it seemed to put Keith a little more at ease, but he quickly became serious again. He made sure that his words weren't accusatory. He wasn't blaming Keith for what happened. It wasn't his fault. "He deserves that right. You really scared us and him especially. You should be thanking him. If it weren't for him and Red…"

He let his words drift because he couldn't seem to muster the will to say _you would be dead_. The thought alone made his throat tighten.

"I know." Keith's words were quieter than before as he realized that he hadn't thanked Lance at all, and guilt rose inside of him. He would have to tell him later. "But I can't go back to Red. Lance is his Paladin now."

So he had already made his choice on that matter. "That decision is yours to make, and I'm not in any position to force you to choose otherwise. But Keith, we all just want to make sure that you're happy with where you are. If you're not, then a change will have to be made. If being a part of the Blade of Marmora is hurting you, then maybe that's not where you belong. To be honest, I'm not fond of their mindset. You are not disposable Keith. This team needs you, whether you're a Paladin or not. So you can't be making reckless decisions like trying to fly into barriers."

Keith just turned his head away at those words. "If it's to save Voltron, then I'll do whatever it takes. That was the only thing I could think of at the time and if it was to happen again, I would probably do the same thing."

So the best solution, in his mind, is the one where only he gets hurt. "You told me that this is what you wanted. You wanted to join the blade and leave Voltron. Is that really what you wanted, Keith? Is there more going on up there than you aren't telling me?"

Keith's defenses seemed to fly up at the question. "I'm fine, Shiro. I'm alive. You have better things to think about than me, all right?"

"If I don't worry about you, then who will? I have to worry enough for the two of us. Stop selling yourself short. You are important. You're just as important as any of us. I don't want to lose you." The words rolled off his tongue in familiarity and a strong feeling of déjà vu rushed over him. He'd said these words before. "You mean the world to me."

For just one fleeting second, he could see himself talking to a much younger Keith with frustrated tears budding in his eyes and a scowl on his face. So many emotions filled his expression that it was impossible to decipher them all, and he could remember clearly when he gritted his teeth and shouted. " _Prove it. No one wants me, and you're no different! You're just a liar like everyone else."_

How had he responded to that? The memory was so quick it was like a flash and he couldn't seem to remember what he had said.

"I know." Keith's words drew his attention back and when his gaze settled on his face, he wasn't so sure he wasn't looking at the same young boy from so long ago. He had the same range of emotions, the same scowl and gritted teeth as he focused away from Shiro. He may have held back his words this time, but that "I know" meant nothing different than his words had meant back then. _You're just a liar like everyone else._

"Good." He ruffled Keith's hair which earned him a grimace but at least Keith finally looked at him. "And I'll keep proving that until you see yourself the way I see you. I don't care if I have to prove it over and over; I'll do it as many times as it takes."


	8. Chapter 8

_"Shiro? Shiro, wake up." Someone was poking his face and he groaned, wincing at the_ _c_ _rick in his neck. He lifted his head, blinking blearily to clear his vision. Where was he…? He glanced around and took in the small shack he was in from where he was on the couch with a blanket strewn across him, and the smell of coffee filled the small space. Oh right, he'd come over to Keith's for an all-night study session. And he'd…fallen asleep?_

 _"Crap!" He was completely awake and upright in an instant. "How long was I asleep for? What time is it?"_

 _"Relax, you were only asleep for two hours max." Keith held out a steaming mug of black coffee. "You still have_ _about_ _5 hours before the exam."_

 _"That's not enough time." Shiro groaned and took a large gulp of the coffee to get him moving a little quicker. "If I get anything less than a 95 I won't qualify for_ _the_ _long distance space travel course. I'll be confined to Mars at the farthest. Nothing happens on Mars."_

 _Keith let out a soft chuckle as he sat down beside him. "You'll be fine, Shiro. You always do fine."_

 _With his laugh, the scene seemed to meld into something entirely different. The view around him warped into a vast, empty desert with the wind whipping through his hair. Sand dunes and hills flew by him as he soared across the sand on the hoverbike. His arms were wrapped tightly around Keith's thin chest as the boy pushed the bike to its limit and expertly glided around sandstone cliffs and down uneven hills. He had such a talent for piloting that Shiro had no doubt he would one up him in an instant if they were in the same class. It was as if the bike was just an extension of his own body the way he manipulated it so smoothly._

 _"Shiro, this is amazing!" Keith shouted over the wind in their ears and he had a grin from ear to ear which hadn't faltered since he sat down. His face was glowing with excitement and joy and seeing so much happiness on his face, Shiro was sure it must be contagious as a smile stayed glued to his own._

 _Once again, the scene changed rapidly, this time to a mildly cluttered dorm room that mimicked the dull colors of the Galaxy Garrison. Keith stood with a sheepish smile as he observed himself in the mirror beside the bed. The orange garrison uniform was just a little too large but otherwise he looked great._

 _"I knew you were hiding something!" Shiro slapped him on the back hard enough to jerk him forward unintentionally. He was absolutely elated with the news he'd just received. He'd known Keith had intended on applying to the Garrison the very minute he was old enough, but Keith had kept it under wraps that he'd even gone to the entrance exam and passed with flying colors. It wasn't until he showed up at Shiro's dorm room with his new uniform that he chose to tell Shiro the exciting news, and exciting was an understatement. "I told you you would get in with no problem. And top of your class at that! Keith, this is amazing!"_

 _"Thanks." Keith plucked at his bangs, feeling a little embarrassed at Shiro's swooning. Of course he'd kept it as a surprise to see Shiro as happy as this. He blinked when Shiro held out a hand to him and_ _he_ _gingerly took it, only for him to pull him into a tight hug._

 _"Welcome to the Garrison. I couldn't ask for a better classmate." He squeezed Keith tight and after a second, he finally returned the hug with a smile._

The memory faded to black and Shiro groaned as his body began to wake. He opened his eyes a slit, but his body felt odd and light like he was suspended on a cloud. He thought he could hear the castle's intercom saying something, but the words sounded muddled and far away.

He forced himself to open his eyes and his breath caught in his throat when he did. He wasn't at the castle at all, and the feeling of lightness suddenly made much more sense. His body was floating in a tube of some kind of thick viscous liquid which resisted when he tried to clench his fist. There were tubes inserted into his arms and legs and attached to his chest, and dozens of wires connected to his Galra arm. Where was he? How had he gotten here? Panic quickly rose in his chest as he tried to piece together the situation.

He had to get out of here. The glass around him looked thick, but it couldn't be anything so strong that his Galra arm couldn't cut through it. He raised his right arm and quickly activated his hand and-

Pain ripped through his body the very second his hand glowed purple. It was like every nerve in his body was suddenly on fire and his back arched in agony. A scream tore through his throat as his muscles convulsed in reaction to such intense pain.

Shiro shot up in his bed with sweat pouring down his face and chest heaving with agonized breaths. The pain was gone as soon as he woke up aside from a pulsing headache, but his muscles still felt the ache from it, and his fingers trembled. He tried to steady his breathing as he gazed down at his Galra arm. What was that…? The dreams with Keith, those were clearly memories returning, but that…there was no way that could have been a memory. It was so vivid and the pain had been so real. Pain wasn't supposed to be felt in a nightmare either….so what was that?

"Paladins, please report to the bridge." Allura's voice was coming over the intercoms. They must have reached the destination for the mission while they slept. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to force the nightmare into the back of his mind. That's all it was. A nightmare from his time with the Galra. He couldn't focus on it now. Right now he had to focus on being the leader of Voltron. Quickly, he got up and gathered his gear to make way to Allura.

"Shiro, we'll be at the location in ten minutes." Keith's voice relayed through the comms to the entire team once they had gathered on the bridge. He and Kolivan were en route to the quintessence holding facility, eager to get a start on taking down this supply line. Keith had been there when Kolivan had awoken from the healing pod, and explained the entire situation to him as he ate and regained his strength. Kolivan agreed to go ahead with Shiro's plan, although he stressed the need to be careful. He didn't exactly trust Lotor's words, and although he didn't explicitly say it, he wasn't eager for a repeat of the last mission. How he had survived the explosion, he wasn't sure. Even if the lions had found them in time, the fact that they weren't immediately shredded to pieces was a miracle. He wasn't going to take another gamble like that.

After a day of rest and preparation, he and Keith had headed out to the coordinates given to them by the map. Coran guided the castle as close as he could without being detected, and once Keith and Kolivan were successfully inside the holding facility, Voltron would head for the nearby planet, named Yianus according to Coran, to eliminate any Galra forces who could be called for backup and liberate the planet.

Shiro and the others boarded their lions, leaving Coran aboard the castle with not only the responsibility of watching over both missions, but also babysitting Lotor. He had obediently reported to the bridge when Allura had called the others there, but remained mostly quiet during their brief planning. By no means did that imply he wasn't taking in every word they spoke, and the entire team was keenly aware to watch their tongues when he was around. As the others left for their lions he took a seat in the Black Pilot's seat, keeping a watchful eye on Coran's screens with crossed arms. As long as he stayed there and didn't get any ideas, Coran could focus on the task at hand.

"Keith, what's your ETA?" Shiro questioned into his comms once Yianus came into view.

"We're docking now." Keith gave a curt response as he and Kolivan prepared their infiltration.

"All right. We'll hold back any reinforcements that head your way." Shiro couldn't help but feel a little worried, after the result of their last mission and a little of that may have found its way into his voice. "Let us know as soon as the facility is cleared. Keep your communications open. If anything goes wrong, we're close by."

"Understood."

"Keith, be safe, man." Hunk didn't attempt to hide his worry whatsoever, and the others chimed in with similar feelings.

"I'll be fine guys. Relax. Make sure to focus on your own mission." It was clear in his voice that he was grimacing at the over-protection. They had more important things to worry about than him.

"Shiro, look!" Allura's voice brought their attention back as they approached Yianus. A massive fleet of Galra cruisers awaited them, backed by a handful of Galra battleships. They seemed to create a barrier between Voltron and a larger battleship that hovered just over the planet. A purple beam shot from the ship to the planet's surface, and even from where they were they could see that the surface of the planet was blackened where the beam touched.

"Were they waiting for us?" Pidge took in the massive amount of enemies in front of them. The sheer numbers of ships certainly made it appear like they were aware that Voltron would show up.

"I don't know, but we must move quickly." Allura gritted her teeth as anger welled inside of her. "The ritual has already begun. They're extracting the planet's quintessence. If we don't stop them soon the entire planet will die!"

"All right, everyone, your target is that ship. Take it down and then we can focus on the others."Shiro spun to dodge the first attack from the battleships which had started moving towards them. He quickly pushed his lion forward, taking out a battleship that blocked his path towards the target.

"I don't think it's going to be that easy. Look!" Lance pulled their attention to the small Galra cruisers, which hadn't moved from their positions at all. The pointed ends of the ships were glowing a bright purple, but rather than emitting an attack of lasers, the purple light expanded outward until it reached its neighboring craft, creating a huge purple barrier in an oval shape completely surrounding the target battleship.

"It's just like Naxzela." Pidge observed the shield created by the colony of coordinated crafts. "They're using the same concept but by using mobile crafts they can move the barrier wherever they want."

"Let's see how strong it is." Hunk was always eager to test the integrity of Galra equipment and his lion was the best for it. He pulled back and rocketed his lion toward the barrier, slamming into it with his full force. A shock tore through his lion when he did, and though his impact sent a pulse through the shield, it didn't break. "Yeah, it's pretty strong."

"Don't let it distract you." Shiro quickly took out two more battleships as Allura and Lance simultaneously eliminated two more. "We broke through the barrier on Naxela and we can do it here too."

"You'll have to do it a little faster." Coran chimed in through the communications. "The planet's quintessence is being depleted rapidly. They've already acquired nearly 30% of its total quintessence!"

"Okay, we need to form Voltron and break through that shield and stop that ship." Shiro took out the last attacking battleship that remained outside the barrier which would allow them time to gather and form Voltron.

"Are you sure that's the best idea?" Lance chose to voice his concerns as he flew Red along the diameter of the barrier. "I mean you heard Pidge, they can move the barrier wherever they want. Which means if we do break through, they can just move to fix it and block us off. The lions are smaller and faster. If we hit it from five different places at once then we'll have a better chance of one of us getting in."

"It makes sense, but do our individual lions have the firepower to penetrate the shield?" Allura's concern was rising alongside the blackening surface of the planet.

"We don't have time to hope for an opening." Shiro could feel the tension of the time constraint and indecision wasn't a luxury they could afford right now. "With Voltron we have the most firepower and there's no question that we can break through. If we wait too long the planet will be at stake. Everyone, we need to form Voltron!"

The lions converged to form the giant weapon, though Lance bit back his retaliation towards the plan. Once Voltron was fully formed, they stood off some distance. They would propel Voltron towards the barrier and use its speed and momentum along with Red's laser to break through the barrier, just as they had on Naxela. On Shiro's mark, they faced their target and launched.

Shiro hadn't been wrong when he said they would succeed in breaking the barrier. Upon impact they immediately tore through, almost as if they'd been allowed to. Before they could react to the ease of the attack, all of the Galra ships were converged on them, moving the shield away from the ship and instead completely engulfing Voltron with tight knit battle cruisers that formed a bubble around the robot. They flew in close, refusing to give Voltron enough space to move or gain momentum to try to break through with physical force. They used their shield to force Voltron away from their the targeted battleship.

Lance gritted his teeth and powered up his lion's mouth laser, sending the strongest attack he could into the barrier closest to him, but the beam bounced right off and hit Voltron instead, sending a shock of pain through all of them. This shield was stronger than it had been on Naxela. That alone proved that they had allowed the previous attack to break through.

"Shiro? What do we do?" Hunk looked to the head for guidance, but he received silence in return. "Shiro?"

Pain tore through Shiro's right arm, the same pain he had felt that morning, so strong and agonizing that he couldn't hear Hunk's voice. It took everything in him not to scream into the communications as he grasped his Galra arm, desperately wishing he could tear it clean off of his body. He couldn't focus though the shrieking in his every nerve, couldn't think to comprehend the position they were in. For a moment ,everything was black, engulfed in excruciating, unbearable pain.

A short distance away, Keith and Kolivan had found the holding facility mostly inhabited by sentries, which was expected. They had quickly eliminated all of the guards that filled the facility, being sure to remain stealthy so as not to attract any stronger enemies. Once they had cleared the halls, the only remaining enemies were those who were inside the chamber where the quintessence was held. They regrouped outside the door and Keith took a second to relay a hushed status back to the others. "Coran, we've reached the holding room."

Coran pulled up his scans of the facility, finding himself a little flustered trying to manage two missions at once, especially with the downward spiral the Voltron mission was taking. The stress was evident in his tone. "I'm only receiving one sign of life coming from inside, but that doesn't mean there aren't sentries waiting for you. My readings also detected an incredibly large level of quintessence, so we need to make sure that doesn't fall into their hands."

Keith didn't need readings to know that there was a ton of quintessence stored inside that room. The energy that radiated from it was almost tangible, but that wasn't the only source of energy he felt cming from inside. He'd felt quintessence energy before, but there was something else that had made this supply line different since the beginning. A source of energy that he couldn't explain. It felt so similar to when he had felt the blue lion in the desert that when the Blades had decided to investigate the supply lion, he'd felt almost like he was drawn to joining the effort.

But Voltron only had five lions, so it couldn't be that. So what was it…?

Kolivan gave him a nod that signaled that they were ready to enter, and prepared to encounter a fight immediately. Keith returned the nod and opened the door carefully but quickly, keeping his blade at the ready as he entered. He was met with a chamber very similar to what he had seen before. Glowing yellow tubes of quintessence lined the walls, ready to be either transported or converted into fuel. Just like before, in the center of the room was the hooded figure of a druid. It reacted immediately to their entrance and vanished in a cloud of smoke, leaving them staring at a large glass cylinder in the very center of the room. The glass was so dark a black that it was impossible to see inside and streams of pure, yellow quintessence flowed to the tube, giving it a faint yellow glow. It wasn't like he had seen before, where the quintessence flowed into a spiral to be converted into fuel. This was something different. Whatever was inside there was the source of that unexplainable energy.

Kolivan pressed his back against Keith's as both of their eyes darted around the room to spot the reappearance of the druid. They didn't have to wait long as it reappeared right beside them, attempting to hit them with a blast from its glowing hand, but Kolivan blocked the attack with his blade while simultaneously swinging out a kick. He managed to hit the druid, but it vanished again upon impact. Keith spotted it first when it reappeared a second later a short distance away. Its hands were already bright purple and crackling with dark magic, and Keith threw his blade at it just as it unleashed an attack. Kolivan quickly dodged the blast, yanking Keith away with him and Keith's blade hit its target. The druid folded in on itself from the touch of the blade, but just as it clattered to the floor they were both suddenly engulfed in darkness.

Kolivan kept close to Keith, who wouldn't be able to find his weapon in the pitch black. He could hear the rustling of cloth around them as a figure moved through the room and he focused on following the sound. It circled them, but didn't come too close, and didn't stop moving. He tried to pinpoint its distance and location but then there was silence.

They stood motionless, back to back, listening for anything at all but were met with only their own heavy breathing. Whoever it was still had to be here, casting this darkness over them, so where?

And then Keith felt it. A hot warm breath right on his face and the second he did he thrust out an open palm. It made contact with someone's chest and the force in his attack sent them skidding backwards. Kolivan reacted immediately to the movement and was in front of Keith before he could move. The only light that they could see was the shine of Kolivan's blade as he thrust it into whoever was in the room with them.

He felt his blade make an impact with soft muscle and flesh but there was no glow of a druid being eliminated by the blade. Instead he was met with a sickening laugh that sounded like it was from a woman. It echoed through the room and made his hair stand on end. He plunged his blade a little deeper. The darkness dissipated then and the room came back into view, but in front of him was nothing but his own blade.

Keith quickly collected his fallen weapon once he could see and took in his surroundings. There were no enemies that he could see, but the cylinder in the center of the room was gone along with a few dozen containers of quintessence. He and Kolivan searched the room, but whoever had been there was gone.

"Shiro, the holding facility is secure." Keith tapped into his communications and was met with an earful of yelling from the other Paladins. "Shiro?"

"Shiro! We're running out of time!"

"Shiro!"

All of the muddled shouting mixed with a ringing in his ears as his vision cleared again. The pain in his arm had stopped, but left him trembling and sore. It took a second to gather himself and comprehend what the others were saying. He wasn't given the indulgence of gently coming back to reality either as Voltron was violently yanked to and fro by the Galra cruisers that had converged upon it.

"Shiro! Wake up!" Lance's voice came loud and clear that time.

"I'm here." Shiro's throat was dry and uncomfortable. He grasped his controls, taking in the situation. How long had his episode gone on for?

"What do we do?! We need to break through this barrier!" Hunk wildly pulled at his controls, trying whatever he could to kick off the attacking ships.

Shiro struggled to move Voltron, but the hundreds of battle cruisers had converged so tightly around them with their barrier that there was no way to gain enough momentum to apply an attack. The lasers weren't strong enough. If only they were able to form sword, it could likely cut through. Shiro gritted his teeth to think, eyes focused on the blackened Yianus before them. If he didn't act right now it would be too late. Think Shiro!

Suddenly, a massive laser beam shot past Voltron, skimming the robot's head close enough to destroy a good amount of the cruisers and sent them flying. The beam reached all the way to the attacking battleship and blasted clean through it with ease. It was powerful enough to completely decimate the ship with a single blast.

They only knew of one ship that had a laser that powerful, and they were already indebted to that ship once.

"I figured it as about time you all woke up from your nap, Paladins. Were you having a good dream?" Lotor's words were patronizing as he drew his ship up beside Voltron.

"Coran, I thought you were watching him?" Lance sneered as they focused on picking off the cruisers now that they weren't caught in the web of the barrier.

Honestly, Coran had gotten so caught up in trying to manage two missions at once that he hadn't even heard Lotor leave the bridge. He had been busy preparing to go and help Voltron himself, and he was already halfway to them. His attention had been too taken up to bother noticing Lotor's absence. All he could give was a "Sorry."

"What is the status of Yianus?" Allura's concern lay in the darkened husk of the planet before them.

"Not so good. You all should return to the castle." Coran sounded deflated. "We have some evacuation plans to prepare."


	9. Chapter 9

The lions docked in the unified bay and when Shiro jumped out of his cockpit he found Lance waiting for him.

"What happened out there?" He rose an eyebrow inquisitively, and he had a tinge of irritation in his expression, though he seemed to manage to hide it from his tone. "We formed Voltron and then you just…blanked out."

"I…I don't know." Shiro looked down at his Galra arm. The foreign prosthetic was already a threat. How would they react to knowing it was suddenly causing him spontaneous excruciating pain now? "My arm started to hurt and I couldn't focus…"

"Your arm?" Pidge ogled the Galra tech. "Is this the first time it's happened?"

"I think it happened last night, but never before that." He couldn't hide the concern in his voice as he flexed his fingers. "I'm sorry."

"It doesn't matter what went wrong." Allura pulled off her helmet and was headed for the door as soon as she was out of her lion. "We have to focus on helping the people of Yianus now."

"Yes, and a good start would be to actually implement your 'defender of the universe' title, now wouldn't it?" Lotor followed behind her with a sneer and earned himself five glares in return.

Shiro frowned and followed suit with Pidge close beside him as she occasionally prodded his arm.

Lance lingered behind and Hunk hung back with him, clearly reading the agitation on his face. "You okay, man?"

"I dunno, dude. I just…can't figure out why Shiro doesn't want to listen to me." Lance crossed his arms as he peered up at his Red lion. "If we hadn't formed Voltron and had stayed separate, we could have overwhelmed those ships and broken through that shield. We could have saved that planet, but Shiro didn't want to listen."

"You're probably right, but it was true that Voltron had the most firepower, and we didn't know they would gang up on us like that." Hunk plucked off his helmet and tucked it under his arm.

"Yeah, but it's not just this time. Back at Naxela he did the same thing. I'm not saying that all my ideas are great, I'm just saying that he's been making some bad judgement calls lately." Lance frowned, jutting out his lip a little. "He always listened to Keith. Is it just me?"

Of course he still had that knot in his chest that told him he wasn't the right pilot for Red. That he needed to step down and relinquish the role to Keith. But he didn't want to admit that to Hunk.

"I dunno. He and Keith had something different. They knew each other before." Hunk pondered the question for a minute. "I don't think it's you. When Keith was in Black you guys did fine together, once he got used to piloting Black anyway. We were all really getting the hang of it before Keith left. So if you were good in Red then, that wouldn't change now. If you want my opinion, I think you're doing great as Red's pilot. You really helped Keith out and what you said to Allura back on Naxela was really inspiring, dude. I mean think about it. Compared to how we were when we started, we're amazing now! And you've already changed lions once, so that's an even bigger deal. If it's a matter of respect, I think Shiro would respect you more for that. "

He had a point. Lance's piloting skills were improving every day and he'd really gotten the grasp on Red's speed. It could have been a matter of Shiro just not seeing him as an equal worth listening to, but even if that was true, Shiro wasn't the type to blatantly ignore the right choice just because it was Lance saying it. "If it's not me, then something has to be going on with Shiro."

"You think so? I mean, yeah today was weird, but we all kind of expected his Galra arm to act up eventually." Hunk rubbed at the back of his neck. "But I guess now that you mention it, he has been a lot more assertive than he was before. But I mean, being in Galra captivity _twice_ probably changes people. He had trouble with PTSD before, so maybe its gotten bad again."

"Maybe, but it's not like Shiro to make bad calls, and they seem to becoming more frequent." Lance crossed his arms and cast a side glance at Hunk. "We should at least keep an eye on him. I mean I _am_ his right hand man. I should be doing at least that."

"You always do, dude." Hunk chuckled softly and clapped a hand on Lance's shoulder. "Allura, Keith, me, Pidge, you're always taking care of us. So I'm sure Shiro will appreciate it. Come on, let's get upstairs and join the others."

Lance blinked and allowed Hunk to lead him out of the hangar. A smile touched his lips. Maybe his role in Red wasn't completely out of place. He could watch out for everyone including Shiro and help them as best he could. It wasn't much, but at least he could do a little as the Red paladin.

"This planet is dying." Allura stood at the center of the castle's bridge. She had a hand to her chin in contemplation while her other fingers drummed at the pedestal by her side. "There must be something we can do to help."

"But what _can_ we do? This planet is much bigger than the Balmera. I don't think healing it is an option." Shiro stood to her right with his hands on his hips as he watched the screens that Coran had spread out in front of them. They had landed the castle on the only remaining living chunk of the planet to do what they could to help the people, but the information before him didn't hold much good news.

"Almost 90% of the planet's quintessence has been sucked out." Coran stated with sadness in his tone. "The 10% remaining energy will struggle to provide for every living thing there. It's likely that the rest of the planet will never be habitable again, and the remaining energy likely won't be able to sustain life for very long."

"We can't leave it like this. We must do something to help them." Allura's grip tightened on her controls in frustration. Is destroying homes the only thing the Galra know how to do? An entire planet of people, plants and animals had their home almost torn away from them simply for power. She couldn't bear to see another planet end up the same as her home had. There had to be something they could do. Perhaps she could try to heal it over a few days span. She had to try something. She couldn't stand by and watch a planet die without doing her all to save it.

"The fact that the planet still exists should be considered lucky." Lotor spoke up calmly from where he stood off to her left, and his voice alone made her blood pressure rise with irritation. "Had the ritual been completed it, and everything on it, would have been completely decimated."

"Lucky?" She cast him a narrow eyed glare. Did he expect some sort of award for being the one to fire the blast that stopped the ritual? "You consider a planet attempting to survive off of 10% of its life force lucky? Their death is inevitable thanks to your greedy, power hungry Empire who have no consideration to the planets that reside in their domain. No Empire should rule that way. One planet worth of quintessence far exceeds the power needed to fuel an entire armada of battleships. Surely one will be strong enough to power any weapon Haggar hopes to build. What is the gain of attacking all of these planets? They are hurting their own Empire by diminishing the planets under their own reign. What do they expect to do once they've sucked dry every planet they rule over? Zarkon certainly can't be King over nothing."

"It doesn't seem to have stopped you, _Princess_." He matched her glare, but maintained his calm demeanor. "You speak as if your Altaen race is guiltless. Need I remind you that you began this war with the destruction of our planet Daibazaal."

"Yes, as it was _necessary_ due to the planet's debilitating structure. We also ensured the safety and evacuation of all your people." Allura responded through gritted teeth. Anger flushed her face, though she worked to maintain composure. Shiro feared for a moment that her tightening grip on her pedestals would shatter them. "My father did what he had to in order to protect your people in place of _your_ father's absence and poor decision making. If not for us Altaens your entire race would have perished thanks to Zarkon. If _anyone_ should be considered _lucky_ , it should be you Galra."

"Well, I suppose we are _lucky_ to have your experience as it appears you may have to execute that same method now." He gestured to the planet before them as he turned to her with a look of annoyance. He stepped towards her as he spoke, his voice biting and accusatory. "You will help them and promise protection as you coax them into joining your growing coalition. You will use Voltron as a poster child of peace while you use it to fight a war. Where would those promises be without Voltron? Could you protect anyone without your super weapon? But what does Voltron provide you? Power. The very same thing that the Galra seek. You speak as if you're so high above us, when you are not so different. I agree that my father's methods are weak and outdated. I agree that having the cooperation of the people we reign over would make us stronger as an Empire. While my father is solely interested in gaining as much power as possible to rule over each planet, I believe more with your method, Princess. You use power to quickly gain your own army. You use promises of protection and freedom to gain the people's trust and build us an army loyal to you and Voltron. I agree that an army like that is much stronger than one based on force. But when you get down to the core of the matter, Princess, our goals are the same. You believe your goal is more righteous than ours and that makes your means virtuous, but in the end, both parties seek nothing more than power."

He stood beside her now, refusing to avert his glare. She returned it with a scowl and a fiery glint of rage in her eyes. Shiro set a hand on her shoulder as a warning to calm down, but she quickly shrugged it off and stepped even closer to Lotor. She stood hardly an inch from him and stared him straight in the face. "How _dare_ you compare us to you murderous Galra! Voltron promises each planet we liberate the guarantee of freedom to reign as they wish. Unlike you, we have no desire to rule over them and oppress them. We wish to restore to them the freedom your race took from them. Our goal is not for our own benefit but for the benefit of each planet we liberate so that they may have the power to decide how they are ruled and how they will live. That is a basic right that you stole from them! Our goal is to return to them that basic right. If you came here thinking you would gain some kind of power to rule over these people at the end of this war, then I suggest you leave right now because you will not gain it. The _only_ advantage you will receive here is the allowance to live and not be killed by your father, which is an advantage I am _quickly_ coming to disagree with. I would highly suggest you keep your opinions to yourself if you hope to stay here another day."

They both stared at each other unblinking and tense enough that Shiro and Coran chose to stay out of it completely. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Lotor was the first to break the gaze as a smirk spread across his face. He let out a curt laugh, much to Allura's growing agitation. He leaned down to match her height. "You, Princess, are a-"

As he leaned over he set his hand on Allura's pedestal, but when he did the beacon on top immediately lit up upon activation. As it did, his purple skin changed to a dark brown and his claw-like nails vanished. His eyes turned from yellow to white and purple Altaen markings adorned his cheek bones. For a moment, he was frozen in shock at the change in his appearance, taken completely off guard.

"You…you're Altaen?" Allura had to take a step back due to pure surprise. How…? This was Zarkon's son. It was obvious he didn't look all Galra, but the only way he could be Altaen is if he were born 10,000 years ago. It was impossible. How? There was no way he could have survived for so long unless he had been consumed by quintessence as his parents, which couldn't be the case. Unless this had to do with the witch.

Lotor quickly pulled his hand away and his skin returned to its normal tone of purple when he did. For just a moment he had looked like his mother, though he wasn't sure why or how it had happened. It was obvious that that pedestal only responded to Altaens as it is a part of an Altaen castle, but he hadn't expected it to react to him so strongly. He was only half, after all. Why had his appearance changed?

"Are you Honerva's child?" Allura no longer looked surprised, but rather held an expression of steely resolution at getting some answers. "Or is that Altaen witch your mother?"

Lotor sneered at the very thought of that, and his disgust was clearly visible on his face. "Honerva is my mother, not that I recall agreeing to answer personal questions."

Allura narrowed her eyes at him with a frown before she folded her arms across her chest and swiftly turned to Shiro. "Our deal is off. I want him gone. _Now_."

"Allura, I know he's a pain, but he's willing to help us. We need allies." Shiro spoke with caution, wary of her temper. She hadn't been super fond of teaming up with Lotor in the first place, and he wasn't exactly earning her trust, but wasn't it smarter to have him on their side rather than the enemy's?

Her frown deepened and now it was Shiro earning her glare. "He's _Altaen_. I will not allow him to be on my castle any longer. He is too much of a threat here."

She cast a backwards glance at Lotor, who Coran was now thoroughly observing. It was true that a half Altaen was strange to see even long ago, but for Lotor to be one here was too much of a risk. If he had access to the controls, that gave him too much power. She could not allow him the chance to take control of the castle.

"I understand what you're saying, but we can't just throw him out. He's held up his end of the deal. We need to uphold ours." Shiro was trying to be the peacekeeper here. It would be dirty for them to back out of a deal after the other party had done his part.

She knew that what Shiro was saying was true. If they were to back out of a promise it would only prove what Lotor had said earlier, and that idea made her grit her teeth in irritation. If only she could just lock him in an isolated room for the next 10,000 years, they would still uphold their end of the deal that way. Maybe she could just station him on some planet to work with the coalition members, but they were all too busy to keep an eye on him. Maybe she could send him off on an impossible mission in deep space until he ran out of fuel, but that could be considered abandonment which would void the deal. Hmm…

Her face suddenly lit up with an idea. "What about the Blades? He should fit in there."

"Well…it's possible." Shiro pinched his chin as he thought about Kolivan working alongside the Prince of the Galra. He could imagine the scowl now. "We can ask Kolivan. He and Keith should be together right now mapping out a plan of attack for the next planet."

Soon enough, Keith and Kolivan were contacted and their visuals displayed on the largest screen.

"Lotor? You want Lotor to join the Blades of Marmora?" Keith raised an inquiring eyebrow at the unusual request.

"He will not be very warmly welcomed here, I can warn you of that." Kolivan held a deep frown at the idea, just as Shiro had predicted. "Nor can I guarantee his safety."

"This is a war. We can't guarantee anyone's safety." Allura stood almost guarding her position at her controls. Although her caution didn't seem to be much needed, as Lotor was slouching in the Black Paladin's seat, sitting quietly as he watched the conversation go on. He often seemed to stand back and observe, which only made her wonder about his intentions more.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Shiro?" Keith looked unsure. "We're stretched pretty thin here, so we can't necessarily watch him constantly."

"I understand that, but neither can we here, and since he's Altaen he has a degree of…access…to the castle. We can't risk that." Shiro shared Keith's look of uncertainty. "I think this is our best option. There's nowhere we can send him where he won't be a concern, so I think this option has the least amount of risks. You guys usually work in pairs, so the majority of the time, there will be someone around."

A silence fell that reflected everyone's understanding that what he said made sense, although it was worrisome. They had known going into this that working with Lotor would be a huge concern, and it was proving to be a little more work than they had hoped. The idea of just locking him in a holding chamber forever was starting to sound kind of nice.

Kolivan's stern voice broke the silence. "He will have to endure the Trials of Marmora before we can accept him as a member. If he fails to awaken a blade, then he cannot join. I will be able to gather enough members to have the Trial held tomorrow morning. I will sent Keith to retrieve him then."

"Understood. We'll see you then." Shiro smiled, which Keith reflected before they signed off. He turned back to look at Lotor. It seemed that things were becoming a little more…complicated.


	10. Chapter 10

Keith was there early the next day to pick up his begrudging participant. The Blades had arranged the trial for Lotor on one of the smaller liberated planets. They had no desire for the prince of the Galra to know the location of any of their bases even if there was a possibility of becoming a member.

Lotor's trial was set up a little differently than Keith's had been, and when asked Kolivan explained that the majority of Galra who come asking to join the Blades of Marmora had a specific reason behind doing so. These reasons range from things like revenge, or justice or simply wanting to change the way the Empire rules. The trials were put into place to test the resolve of their reason and determine whether the individual had the wherewithal to put their life on the line to make that reason come true. The luxite blade could only be awakened if the individual had absolute certainty in their goal and determination to fight against the Galra. Long story short, the trials were created to weed out the weak willed. Kolivan didn't have the luxury of allowing in anyone in who might threaten his team's strength, and so many had either abandoned the trial altogether or hadn't been strong enough to pass.

Keith's motives had been different. He came to the Blades asking for knowledge, and his trials proved his determination to reach that goal. Kolivan had been thoroughly impressed with his resolve and he was warmly welcomed to the team when he later expressed interest.

Lotor wasn't deciding to join the Blades on his own accord, but he had chosen to join the coalition for a reason. He seemed intent on hiding that reason, so this trial was to draw out whatever he was hiding. If Allura was growing frustrated with Lotor's tight lips and didn't trust him in her castle, then what better place to send him than the one place that had the ability to figure out his real intentions.

Today's true trial would be to see how long it would take to make him break his silence.

Everything was in place, and once Lotor had suited up he was left alone in an empty room with only Kolivan, who watched him carefully from behind his mask and held out a blade.

Lotor approached him to take the blade but hesitated when Kolivan spoke. "You chose to join the coalition for a reason. If you expect us to trust you as an ally, you cannot continue to keep secrets. Your refusal to indulge us in your intentions will keep you from achieving any goal you have in mind, be it a just goal or otherwise. So I will ask you again: why did you choose to side with the coalition?"

Lotor took the blade from him and made note of its weight in his hand. It was a short blade, but it would do. "As I've plainly stated before, I came for the protection of Voltron, being that the entire Empire is out for my head. You seem to believe that I have some ulterior motive, and I'm sorry to disappoint, but with the position I was in, I had little time to come up with some devious plan."

"So why give us any information at all? You've gained your protection. If that's all you wanted, then there's no reason to do any more." Kolivan folded his hands behind his back, carefully observing Lotor's features as he gave his responses.

"It wasn't likely that the Paladins would accept my terms with nothing to offer. Besides" He set the blade in the sheath on his hip and pulled his hair over his shoulder, tying it into a low ponytail. A small smile was tugging at his lips. "I would get bored with nothing to do."

"If you feel such a mundane reason is worth risking your life, please, feel free to undergo our trial." Kolivan stepped to the side to allow him access to the entry door. "But once you pass that threshold, I will not guarantee your safety. You made a bargain with the Paladins for protection, but I agreed to no such deal."

"Well then, let's make this fun, shall we?" Lotor smirked and stepped towards the door with confidence. When he stepped inside he found himself in a large oval shaped room. Around fifty masked Blade members stood in a semi circle around him with their weapons activated and at the ready. His smile remained and he readied his own.

There was a moment where everyone was still, deciding who would make the first move and as his eyes dragged across all of the members he had to hold back laughter. The entire room was filled with the typical tall, broad shouldered Galra that he had spent his entire life sparring with. He had confidence in his ability to counter them, but the one who made the first move was what made him hold back a laugh. The odd one out, who stood barely half the height and frame of the others and needed no mask for him to know that it was Keith. As soon as he made a move, all the others quickly followed suit.

He parried Keith's attack and quickly dodged to avoid being hit by two other blades. So the approach was to overwhelm him with numbers then. He only hoped they didn't expect him to go easy on them either.

Kolivan watched the trial from a separate room, focusing on Lotor's movements and expressions. He twisted and spun around his attackers with nimble fluidity. He understood their body frame and speed and how to counter it. His unfaltering smile held confidence and enjoyment at the battle, but with a few hits and a little exhaustion, things would change for him.

Lotor held his own for a considerable amount of time, managing to knock out at most at one time over half of his attackers. But the odds were stacked against him and the Blades never stayed down for long. He ducked quickly to dodge an attack and pushed forward, elbowing his attacker in the gut. He focused on an enemy to his left who was coming in for a swing at his head, so he lowered himself and kicked out the enemy's legs, but before he could steady himself again Keith was moving quicker. He came from behind and kicked out Lotor's ankles and set him crashing to the floor. Before his head even made contact with the ground, Keith was on top of him, holding him down by his wrists, but that was his weakness. He was light and although that helped with his speed, it didn't help him here and Lotor quickly pulled his knees up and kicked Keith off of him, getting back to his feet. He rapidly fell back into stance as the others also recovered. But that smile was gone, and he was finally going to take them seriously.

The battle continued along a similar course. He would take down a large amount of Galra, but the thorn in his side was Keith. He could move more quickly than the others, and while Lotor had the mindset of fighting larger, slower enemies, he would seem to get caught up and forget that there was someone small hidden among them. Kolivan watched as frustration grew in him whenever he was taken down and he focused on that expression. There was something more behind it. Something that pushed him to keep getting back up. It was that which was his reason behind fighting against his father and joining the coalition.

With each take down he could see Lotor taking his enemies a little more seriously and fighting with a little more respect in mind. These were not people simply following orders and lazily following in the shadow of their emperor. These were people who were fighting for their lives and giving their absolute all to achieve a goal. These were people who would be hugely valuable assets to him if they were on his team. They fought with passion and skill, and with sweat dripping down his face and his heart hammering in his chest he felt like he was in the ring again with his generals. He wasn't fighting against worthless enemies anymore. Instead, he was sparring with Acxa, Ezor, Zethrid and Narti.

The scene changed only slightly as his memories manifested themselves and the Blades stepepd back to allow the scene to play out.

Three of the four Galra half-breeds zipped around the room at speeds that most of Kolivan's men couldn't. Lotor's focus was taken up by Acxa's incredibly accurate shots that skimmed just past his face as he dodged. Zethrid acted her role as the tank and ran at him full force, with Ezor and Narti flanking him. He focused his energy in his legs and jumped, twisting himself so that he soared over Zethrid's head and avoided the simultaneous attacks, but winced when Axca managed a shot that hit him in the chest.

"You _already_ got hit?" Ezor rolled her eyes with hands on her hips. "You're going to have to do better than that. I haven't even broken a sweat."

She had to jerk to the side when Lotor threw his sword at her with incredible speed and it grazed her cheek just slightly. He got back to his feet and laughed. "You have too much sympathy for your enemies, Ezor. Just because I am down does not mean that I am defeated."

"You missed on purpose. Hypocrite." She ran a finger along the scratch. Lotor stepped forward to retrieve his weapon, but found himself unable to move a muscle. This elicited a smirk from Ezor. "Looks like you're the one who needs a lecture. You should have been focusing on Narti. She's the winner of this round."

Narti. As she released her hold over him he could tell from her posture that she was happy at her victory. He had learned to read her body language well since she couldn't express emotions with her face. It was because of that skill that he had known that it hadn't been her that day. What had she been feeling then? Trapped somewhere behind the witch's dark magic inside her own body…? What were her last thoughts? Everything he was working towards was to make the Empire a better place for them and for Narti. Everything they had worked towards would have been destroyed by the witch. Narti wouldn't have wished for their loss to be a result of her weakness. But yet he couldn't get the thought out of his mind. Why was he so powerless against the witch? Why couldn't he have thought of any other way to stop her than by killing Narti?

"It is because you are weak." A deep, familiar voice spoke up from behind him. He clenched his jaw at the voice and turned to face his father, who seemed to loom tall above him. "You will never be strong enough to rule this Empire. The blood of that filthy race runs through your veins."

These were words he'd heard since the day his mother had died. Since the destruction of Daibazaal and the passing of Honerva, his father had seen him as nothing but a disgrace to the Galra name because of his Altaen lineage. To his father he was nothing but a memory of the wretched race who destroyed the Galra home planet. He had come to terms with the fact that he had lost both a mother and a father that day.

But he could not agree with his father's disgust in the Altaen race. "You say I am weak because of my blood, but yet your Empire falters now because you refuse to alter the way you rule. Your only interest is power, yet you are blind to the opportunities right in front of you. If we cooperate with the people we rule over, we can have a stronger Empire. Rather than fighting internally, we can focus on expansion. How do you not see that?"

These words had left his lips many times, but as every time before, they fell on deaf ears. "Half-breeds are stronger than your Galra. They would make better soldiers and better men. We must work alongside the planets we colonize if we hope to gain power. Your old fashioned views are skewed."

"I have no need to listen to the words of filth like you." Zarkon turned his back on him, sneering his words. "Haggar's decision to allow your temporary rule was foolish, and now the Empire is suffering for it. You will never have the power to surpass me. You are weak."

 _I will prove it to you_. Those words felt too childish to speak aloud, but yet they burned at his throat. Those words had solidified themselves in his brain. _I will prove that I am stronger than you_.

He gritted his teeth as Zarkon walked away from him, feeling anger course through his veins. Everything he knew, all his training, fighting ability, intellect and skills he had had to teach himself because of his father's rejection. He had come so far, and yet Zarkon would still refuse to acknowledge him. It was infuriating.

"Lotor." The voice that spoke his name this time sounded foreign to him. He hadn't heard her voice in so long, yet he knew immediately who it was. "Lotor, come here."

When he turned, he found himself in his mother's lab. The room had warped into an exact replica of the room she had spent so much time in when he was a boy. The glow from the rift lit up the room from its viewport in the center of her lab. Screens were running tests and machines were whirring from activity and this place felt like home. His childhood had been spent here.

He spotted her on the far end of the room, waving him over. She looked exactly how he remembered her, young with her purple hair pulled back into a neat bun. Her eyes shone bright with eagerness at whatever she was working on and her smile lit up her face. "Come here."

He obeyed and as he approached her, she held out her hands to him. He looked at them, a little confused until she coaxed him to set his hands on her. When he did, she squeezed them tightly and looked into his eyes, turning very serious. "Lotor, why are you content with mediocrity? You have so much more inside you. You can be so much stronger. Why do you refuse to learn more?"

He opened his mouth to respond, but she squeezed his hands a little tighter, leaning in close with a fire in her eyes. "You haven't discovered anything at all! You're hardly half of what you can be! You haven't pushed yourself. When did you become so lazy?"

Lazy? He had been forced to teach himself everything he knew since her passing. He'd been abandoned by his father and exiled, and yet he was here today, a formidable Galra soldier and a tactician. How could she call him lazy?

Her hands felt unusually warm against his and he had to break eye contact to look down. Her hands were glowing a soft blue and his palms felt warm and tingly, like there was a comforting energy flowing into them and up through his arms. It was such a nice feeling, but how was she doing it?

That spark in her eyes refused to disappear and she drew her hands away slowly, but the blue glow remained on his palms. He could feel his own energy surging through his fingertips, waiting to be transferred to something or someone who needed it more than him. She set a gentle hand against his cheek. "Don't refuse who you are. There is much strength in your Altaen blood. You can discover so much more if you stop denying yourself. Don't you see? We can manipulate quintessence. We can give and we can take away. We can restore, or we can destroy. There's so much that we can do with our Altaen abilities, and so much more we can learn. You should only want to learn more, and go farther. Push yourself to your limits and be the strongest person you can be. If you only acknowledge half of yourself, you will stay weak. Aspire for more, my son. Always search for more. Stop refusing who you are."

He couldn't seem to look away from his hands. What all could he do with this power? Would this be his ticket to surpassing his father? To be the best of both Galra and Altaen…was that the answer he was looking for? But he had no idea how to use these powers and no idea what they could do aside from his mother's few words. He finally lifted his eyes to question her, but when he looked up, she was gone. He was back in the room where the Trial of Marmora had taken place, now emptied of enemies.

But that blue glow remained on his hands and a purple glow radiated from the blade that was sheathed against his hip. When had he put it away? He grasped it's hilt to see why it lit up, and when he drew it from its sheath, it was no longer the small blade that he had fought with before. Now it was a long one handed sword with a glowing purple hilt. He had to admit it was much more suitable this way.

He looked back at his open palm as the blue glow slowly began to fade. Maybe he had received one answer, but now a thousand more questions ran their course through his brain. There was so much more he wanted to know and there was only one person he could go to for some answers.

The halls of the castle were filled with the sound of tired feet shuffling to bed. Everyone aboard seemed eager to retire and put behind them the exhausting day. Soon enough the sounds of yawns were replaced with snoring and the corridors were dark except the sound of someone plunking away at a keyboard somewhere deep within the inner rooms.

Pidge was so engulfed in her work that she didn't hear the door to the Green Lion's bay slide open and didn't realize anyone was there until Matt set a plate of food on the desk beside her before collapsing in the seat next to her. He let out a groan and practically melted into the fabric. "How are you still working? I'm exhausted."

They had spent nearly the entire day trying to evacuate the people of Yianus to their closest liberated neighbor planets. With Matt's entire rebel fleet and four of the Voltron lions they had spent eighteen hours helping people in and out of ships, gathering belongings and shuttling between planets. Yianus was a huge planet compared to the others they had liberated and in the end they had ended up transporting just shy of a million aliens. He silently uttered a thanks that the Galra hadn't taken over Earth, because he couldn't imagine trying to move 7 _billion_ people in their handful of rebel crafts. And he thought today was hard.

But he wasn't one to be complaining. There was someone else who had a harder day than he did. "How's Allura? How did the ritual go?"

"She's resting." Pidge responded without looking away from her screen. "She probably will be for the next few days. It went exactly as we expected. Badly. With both her and Coran they were only able to restore another 15% of the planet's quintessence and that was with Allura putting everything she had until Coran had to stop her. She's lucky she's not dead. She may have been able to heal the Balmera and power the teleduv, but healing a planet of this size? It's not possible without more people. It's just too far gone."

"But she's still going to try…" Matt muttered what they both knew to be true and Pidge gave an agitated nod that clearly said she didn't agree with the sentiment. Matt sighed and twisted in the chair so that he could see her screen. "What are you working on?"

"I took a new scan of Shiro's arm earlier because he said it was acting up yesterday." Her eyes darted across the text on screen at an incredible speed. She was scrunching her eyebrows and had her bottom lip jutted out and Matt recognized the face as one she made when something was momentarily baffling her.

"What's up?" He straightened up in his seat so that he could see better.

"I don't know, something's…weird. Look." She pulled up a dual monitor and dragged a wireframe 3D render of Shiro's arm onto the screen. Then she placed an identical render onto the second screen. "These are two scans I took of Shiro's arm. That one is the last scan I took and this one is the most recent. They're a good span of time apart, I think I took the last scan like almost six months ago, before Shiro disappeared. It wasn't causing any issues so that was the last time we looked at it."

"Okay, so you're comparing the current data to the last backup, basically, to find what might be going wrong?" It made sense. If it was some kind of programming issue, she could see the inconsistency and do some work to fix. If there were no inconsistencies then it was a mechanical issue. He watched as she pulled up the data for both scans, which was a wall of text and programming lingo.

"Exactly, but when I ran my program to find the inconsistency, that's when things got weird." She pressed a button to run the program as a demonstration and he watched as it highlighted line after line of text that was inconsistent with the last scan. Pidge crossed her arms and watched it go as Matt stared wide eyed.

"Besides basic commands, it doesn't match at all. This is an entirely new program."

"Exactly. I mean, Shiro said when he vanished from the Black lion he woke up in Galra captivity. So its not that surprising that they would go in and do some updating on their programming. But this? This is a complete rebuild. Which means that either someone on that ship put the time into revamping the programming in this arm even though they never should have seen it again, or they were planning on making a better one and just got the opportunity to implement the changes on the first version when Shiro showed up.

"But it gets weirder." She continued and returned to the 3d wireframe models. "The arm has basically the same functionality as the original. So why would they bother changing the programming so drastically if it didn't impact an upgrade in ability or functionality? So I looked into the mechanics of the thing and there's only one difference, and that's here, in the cylinder along his forearm. In the original, that cylinder holds the fuel that the arms uses to power up and be capable of attacks. It's filled with a Galra fuel. It only uses a minuscule amount to power the arm, so unless Shiro lives to be 150 years old, he doesn't have much worry about running out of power there. It shouldn't be a concern."

"But apparently the Galra thought so." Matt observed the models. "The new arm doesn't have any fuel tank at all."

"Exactly. I had Hunk take a look and even he said he couldn't see anywhere where fuel was being used at all. I haven't figured out what's powering it yet, but I know it isn't Galra fuel. Dad taught us enough about cars to know that you can't pump a gas powered car up with diesel fuel if you want it to last for long. This arm had to be built with its fuel source in mind. Which means that-"

"-there's no way that this is the same arm as before." Matt mimicked her words as she spoke them. "But why would they replace his arm?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. I would assume to make it stronger, but why would they want to make their enemy stronger? I'm sure they didn't expect him to escape a second time, but you would think after one time they'd think 'hey maybe we shouldn't equip this guy'. Whatever their reason was, it makes it a lot harder for me to figure out why it's acting up when I don't have any previous data on it to compare it too." She sighed and fell back in her seat. "For all we know the Galra could have just bugged it to spite him."

"You've got your work cut out for you." Matt glanced back at the program which was still highlighting inconsistencies in the thousands upon thousands of lines of code. He grimaced at the idea of reading every single one of those lines.

"I know." She groaned and rubbed her eyes with a yawn. Today had already been a long day and the idea of pulling an all nighter staring at Galra code wasn't all that enticing.

"Why don't we save it for tomorrow?" Matt stood up and stretched his back out before holding a hand out to her. "I'm sore and ready to pass out but I'll help you if you save it for tomorrow."

"Fine." She made no effort to grab his hand and get out of her comfy chair. Instead she held her arms out to him. "Carry me."

"Pidge, you're sixteen years old now. I am not going to carry you. Besides, I just told you I'm so tired I'm about to pass out." He retracted his hand and turned to head for the door.

"I'm tired too. Come oooon." She whined and flexed her fingers to get his attention. "I travelled across space to save you."

"I was doing fine in my little base."

"Maaaatt."

"No."

"Ugh." She let her arms flop to her sides and just closed her eyes. "I'll just sleep here."

Matt frowned because he knew she would. She could be a stubborn little brat at times, but it was because of that stubbornness that they could bicker together today, so he let her win this time. He went back to her and knelt down. "Get on."

"I knew you would come around." She popped right up and climbed onto his back and he lifted her up in a piggyback ride. He just shook his head with a scoff that made her chuckle a little because she had heard it many times during their arguments when he knew he had lost.

"You're a little brat sometimes, you know." He carried her out of the bay as she set her cheek on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

"Yeah I know." She squeezed his shoulders in a hug. "And you wouldn't have me any other way."


End file.
